Yugi Tachi
by Locondra Timbernova
Summary: A love story between Yugi and Yami. How they develop and test the boundaries that both both tie them together and keep them apart. Yaoi.
1. Part 1- Mindwalk

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.**

**Yugi Tachi**

Part 1

Mindwalk

The moment Yugi closed his eyes he was out, but his hyperactive mind slipped instantly into familiar exploration instead of the dead stillness of sleep. He had pushed through the plain door and crossed the corridor to the cold, forbidding passage into Yami's mind before even realizing he had entered the dreamlike state where he felt most comfortable communicating with his companion spirit. Yami stood there just inside the massive door, as if expecting his young friend. "What is it?" he immediately asked in his deep, regal voice.

"Nothing," Yugi sighed tiredly, making a face. "I just needed to escape reality for a little bit. I've had the worst day."

Yami smiled faintly. The two of them manifested visibly to each other in whatever outfit Yugi happened to be wearing at the time, which meant they now faced each other in the same blue tank top with a big star on the chest, jeans, and Millennium Puzzle. "You know you're always welcome in this realm of the mind. Was your day that bad?"

He turned and started to walk away, with Yugi trailing just behind. "I had an awful day at school," the younger one complained, shaking his head, "probably the worst ever. Exams are coming up, I'm so stressed out. I haven't even had a chance to play Duel Monsters in probably a week!"

"That is serious," Yami placidly agreed, but with a hint of teasing. He smiled over his shoulder at Yugi. "I thought it had been a while since you and I needed to team up."

Yugi tried to smile back, but it just made him look more tired. "Yeah, well, I haven't even gotten to play for fun. But now that you mention it…" Yami paused and turned back to him. Yugi shrugged. "…I guess you're right, I haven't so much as talked to you in a while. And considering you're pretty much with me in some form or another every minute of the day…"

"I did notice that your schoolwork seemed to be taking over your life temporarily," Yami patiently explained. "You may not always feel my presence, but I am there. Most of the time, simply observing and not interfering."

Yugi cracked a small grin. "Yeah, but I like it when you interfere. I don't suppose you'd want to interfere in my Calculus exam next week?"

The pharaoh smirked back but didn't answer. Yugi laughed a little to himself. "Yeah, I know, I'm being silly. Really, though…how are you doing?" He lifted his head and gazed at the twisted, surreal landscape of stairways and doors that never ceased to amaze him no matter how many times he saw it. "Find anything in here yet?"

Yami folded his arms over his chest and lowered his eyes. "No. These corridors are as silent as ever. I feel as though I might be on the edge of epiphany, but it still eludes me."

Young Yugi's large eyes saddened a little. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Yugi. I know that when the time is right, everything will be revealed."

The young one nodded slowly. "You must be tired of looking at these locked doors and crazy stairways."

"I would be if they didn't seem so different every time I turned around." Yami also looked up, since some of the staircases stretched up over their heads into darkness. "I believe they change as I change. The more that's opened up to me, the more it seems the rest is hidden."

"That's insane!" Yugi gasped. "How are you ever going to unlock all your secrets if they keep doing that?"

Yami glanced at him, unable to stop his smile. "You seem more worried about it than I am."

"Well…you know…" Yugi shrugged timidly. "I just want to help. Besides…" He looked around warily. "It's so dark in here. I know it's just you, but I can't help but worry what might be lurking in those shadows."

The pharaoh cocked his head curiously. "Why? What is it like on your side?"

Yugi's eyes widened a little. "You want to see?"

"I…" Yami thought about it, and then smiled firmly. "Why yes. I would like to see your side of things. For all the time we've spent fused together, I feel there is so much I don't know about you, Yugi."

"Aw, there's not much to know, really," the youngster said modestly as he turned toward the iron-clad door marked with the Mystic Eye. "I mean, you already know my friends, and my grandpa. You've been a pretty integral part of my life lately, I don't know what else you'd want to know."

"I'm sure there's much more than meets the eye about you," Yami assured as he followed the shorter version of himself through the door and into the strange corridor that divided the two individual minds from each other. "You'll be privilege to my memories at the same time I am, it's only fair."

Yugi smiled over his shoulder as he pushed the second door open. "I know, and I don't have anything to hide from you. I trust you, Yami. I want you to know me. I just hope you like what you see."

A soft, inviting light flooded the corridor as the door opened, and Yugi led the way into the small chamber. Whenever approaching the mysterious mind of the pharaoh fused inside him, he always found himself there first, but he couldn't say exactly what sort of room it was. There were usually children's toys scattered across the floor, but he couldn't understand why, when he had outgrown those sorts of things by at least ten years. In fact, for a room he assumed was to represent him and his mind, it was very out of character. Yami, however, seemed to see something he did not. "Interesting," he mused as they passed inside. "You have a room of your own within the Millennium Puzzle."

"Is that what this is?" Yugi looked up at the taller pharaoh with wide eyes. "I never thought about it. This is where I find myself whenever I come looking for you."

Yami nodded. "You see? It is your own place, a safe place from which you can approach me."

Yugi ruffled a hand through his hair, looking around. "It's kind of a weird place. I mean…these toys are for little kids." He kicked a stuffed doll, which squeaked when his foot hit it.

"I believe it represents your innocence," Yami said wisely. "It's something you shouldn't take for granted."

"I suppose," Yugi grumbled under his breath. Then his eyes caught something that had never been there before – or if it had, he hadn't seen it. "Wait a minute…where does that door go to?"

It was a perfectly innocuous door, standing immediately opposite the door to the corridor. Yami blinked at it for a moment. "Perhaps it is the way into _your_ mind, the way the other is the entrance to mine."

"Guess there's only one way to find out." Yugi turned the knob and opened it a crack, as if afraid some kind of dragon would jump out at him from the other side. When nothing happened, he pushed it open a little more, wandering through and starting in surprise at what he saw. "Oh…it's my room!"

The two identical figures entered what appeared to be Yugi's bedroom, brightly lit from without by sunshine as if it were the middle of the afternoon, like it was on the outside where Yugi was actually trying to take a nap. But instead of just the main door set into the adjacent wall, next to the closet, there were two additional doors, including the one they had just come through. There seemed to be a bit more clutter than usual about the desk and the shelves. Yugi went to the main door and peeked out into the hallway, fairly certain that he was seeing the rest of his own house. Yami looked around in interest. "I see," he finally said. "This is the present world, the one you know. Your thoughts and memories are here where you feel most safe, your own room."

Yugi came back in and nodded up at the pharaoh. "Yeah, my room is kind of my sanctuary. But these are new." He walked past Yami to the doors set in the wall that was supposed to be blank. The right-hand one had the familiar symbol of the Eye engraved on it. "I guess it's pretty clear, this is the way back into your mind. But where does this one go?" He laid his hand on the latch of the left door.

"Let's find out." Yami stepped up behind him, presenting his quiet support as Yugi opened the door. Inside was a completely random room, not at all logically connected to the house but with a design and light source all its own. It was also bright and sunny, but with a hazy sort of summer late-day sun, making the room feel stuffy and dry. The clutter was even more obvious here, with overflowing shelves and stacked boxes, many of them coated in dust. Along with books, papers, and containers, random objects lay strewn about, but most seemed unfamiliar – at least to Yami. Yugi let out a little cry of surprise and ran to one half-opened box, pulling out a battered stuffed animal. The pharaoh frowned curiously at him. "What is it?"

"Kuma-chan!" Yugi squeezed the animal in his slender arms. "This was my favorite toy when I was little, I took him everywhere. Even when he was almost falling apart, I loved him more than anything in the world. I think I lost him when I moved in with my grandpa, though." He looked around in wonder, his violet eyes wide and innocent. "I get it. These are my memories! Look…" Still hugging the animal – what kind of animal, it was fairly hard to tell – he ran to a shelf and took a picture frame down. "It's me, Joey, and Tristan, on the first day we met. And there…my middle school papers and things. This is where my past is kept."

Yami took a cautious step into the room, not wanting to intrude on what were obviously precious and private memories. "Do you mind me being in here?"

Yugi turned slowly to him, the innocence still in his eyes but a sadly serious look gathering on his young face. Seeing him standing there, a slender and maturing teenager clutching the beloved toy to his chest, struck a note of worry, or perhaps pity, in Yami's heart. "It's all right," Yugi said softly, "you can come in. If you really want to learn about me, this is the place. This is my past, all boxed up and put away." His gaze wandered away, still serious. "There's a lot of painful things locked up in here."

Yami went to him and placed a strong hand gently on his shoulder. "Painful things?"

"Yeah." Yugi's voice dropped to nearly a whisper. "Like…losing my parents, and having to come live with Grandpa. Don't get me wrong, I like living here. I mean, what kid who likes Duel Monsters wouldn't want to live above a game shop with a really cool grandfather who shares your passions? But…"

"But the reason you do is because you lost the rest of your family," Yami finished for him. "I understand. You don't have to tell me about it if it's painful."

Yugi took a deep breath and nodded. "Thank you, Yami. Maybe…some other time."

"I would imagine being confronted by these memories, all at once, is a little overwhelming," Yami continued, leaving his hand there on the youngster's shoulder. "I won't push you. My curiosity is certainly not that important."

"You can look around, though." Yugi glanced back at him with a weak smile. "I don't mind."

Nodding, the pharaoh wandered a little ways away, meandering through the boxes scattered randomly in the room. Some of them lay half-open, giving little peeks of their contents through askew lids – books, papers, record albums, more toys, and some peculiar items no doubt picked up by a memory raised on television and consumerism. Yami investigated with some interest, stopping short of looking through the photo albums, until he spotted something lying on the floor that he knew. He bent down and picked up a single Duel Monsters card. "Neo the Magic Swordsman?" he read off the card.

Yugi set aside his Kuma-chan and gave a little chuckle. "Oh yeah. That was the first Monster card I ever had, when I was just starting to get into the game. I kept him in my deck for a while, because his stats are good, but I think I took him out just before Duelist's Kingdom."

"Sentimental value?" Yami wondered.

"You could say that."

Yami began to hand him the card, but then noticed something as his eyes continued to roam the strange room. "Some of these boxes are labeled. Do you see that?" He crouched down and read several of them out loud. "'Friends,' 'Knowledge,' 'Dreams'…" His gaze focused on the latter, a medium-sized box with a carefully fitted lid. "What dreams have you locked away in your memory?"

Yugi curled his arms around himself shyly. "Oh, you know…when you're a kid, you have a lot of dreams that you don't realize probably won't come true. Silly dreams, about how you think life is going to be like when you grow up." He grinned. "When I was little, I really wanted to be a firefighter."

"A fire…?" Yami couldn't help but laugh. "Really?"

"Yeah. What?" Yugi gave him a petulant look. "You think that's funny?"

Yami's deep, friendly laugh echoed in the room. "I'm sorry. I just…can't see you as a firefighter."

"Well, not _now_, no. See? It didn't come true, but that's okay. It's just a kid's dream, I grew out of it." Yugi came over and crouched down beside his companion to look at the neatly-lettered box of Dreams. "It's good to have dreams, but I think it's also good to know when to let them go. It looks like my old dreams are very safe and taken care of here."

Yami nodded at him. "That's very wise, Yugi."

The youngster looked away modestly, his eyes falling on another box stacked with the rest. "Oh. 'Regrets.' That can't be a good one." He reached for the lid, but his hand faltered halfway there. "Maybe I don't want to know what's in that one."

"That's a fair-sized box for someone as young as you," Yami noted. "Why do you hold on to your regrets?"

Yugi's eyes fell toward the floor. "I don't know," he said softly. "Everyone has them. I just…don't know why I can't let them go. I wish I could be one of those people who's strong enough to say they have no regrets in their life at all."

"It has nothing to do with your strength, Yugi. Life is far more complicated than that." Yami rested a hand on his young friend's shoulder for a moment and then stood up. "Perhaps that's enough reminiscing for one day. Come on, there's more to see in the other room."

Yugi nodded and pushed to his feet, pausing to put Kuma-chan somewhere safe before leaving and closing the door behind him. In truth, he was somewhat intrigued by all the extra things that seemed to exist in his mental bedroom that weren't real, and wanted to check them out as much as Yami did. There was a computer on his desk surrounded by piles of books, and the shelves between the additional doors were stacked with even more books and folders. Smaller boxes were wedged in between the other objects on the shelves and jutted out from under the bed. Yami was letting his fingers roam along the spines of some of the books on the desk as he read them. "What did you find?" Yugi asked him.

"I think it's your schoolwork, the things you learn in class," the pharaoh replied. He took the topmost book and leafed through it, amused to find the pages mostly blank. "At least, I hope you're learning something. This book is empty."

Yugi looked at the title on the cover and groaned. "That's why. It's Calculus. Nothing from that class sticks in my head, I forget it almost as soon as the test is over." He took another book and showed it to his companion. "See? I'm doing much better with Biology."

"Yes, I see," Yami laughed.

Setting the book down, Yugi fiddled with the computer for a moment. "Aw, man. There's more of my schoolwork on here. I wish it were as easy as just hitting a few keys when it's exam time, then maybe I could remember what I need."

Yami had found far more interesting things to look at. "Your Duel Monsters deck," he murmured, shuffling through the cards.

Yugi glanced at him. "How recent is it?"

The pharaoh flipped one card in his thin fingers and showed it to Yugi – Slifer the Sky Dragon. "I'd say it's your Battle City deck."

"Cool." The young man straightened up from the computer with a confident smile. "Of course, if there's anything I have foremost in my mind, ready to access at any time, it's my cards and my deck. Our deck, I should say. I couldn't have gotten through the tournaments without you."

Yami smiled gently and set the deck reverently on the corner of the desk where he found it. "So if this represents your mind in the present, what are some of these things?"

"I don't know. I guess we have to look around."

Both of them did, dividing and going to different places in the room. Yami poked around the shelves, while Yugi peered under the bed. Yami gave a low hum of curiosity as he pulled a shoebox from between books and brushed it off. "This one also says 'Dreams.' But it's much smaller than the one in your past room."

"What?" Yugi pulled his head out from under the bed and peered at his companion. "That's more dreams? Well, open it. What's in it?"

Yami did so, fascinated by the selection of objects and photographs inside. He picked up a small, somewhat stale-looking candy heart first. "What is this?"

Yugi slid off the bed and came over to investigate closer. "I don't know. The things in these boxes are representations of something, right? Some dream I have?"

"What do you dream of that could be signified by a heart?"

Yugi fairly blushed as he stared at the little white heart perched delicately in Yami's fingers. "I guess…maybe…it stands for my wish to be loved, someday."

Yami's elegant eyes widened slightly. "To be loved? Yugi…"

The blush became more pronounced, and Yugi averted his eyes. "Um, yeah. Well…doesn't everybody want that?"

"What about Téa? I thought you had a crush on her."

"I've sort of…given up on that," Yugi sighed. "I know she doesn't see me that way, and never will."

Yami looked thoughtfully at the heart he held for a moment. "So…this dream isn't about anyone in particular?"

"Mm…no, not as far as I know."

Yami decided not to pester his young friend any further on the subject and put the heart back, selecting a key instead. "What is this key for? What does it belong to?"

Yugi looked closely at it. "Hmm. Oh! It's the key to the safe downstairs in the game shop."

"What does that mean?" The pharaoh glanced down at him. "Would you like to own the game shop yourself someday? Or do you just want the money from the safe?"

Yugi laughed. "Yami! You know I wouldn't do anything like that. It's the first one, owning the game shop. I kind of thought…maybe that was what life had in store for me."

"Instead of being a firefighter?"

More laughter. "Yeah, instead of being a firefighter."

Yami smiled kindly. "I was going to ask you, in the other room, if you had discarded that dream, which one took its place. What _do_ you want to do with your life?"

"I don't know, actually." Yugi stared absently at the key as he thought. "Lately I haven't exactly been looking ahead to the future, I've only been living each day as it comes. With you around, I don't know if I can really plan my way." His eyes lifted to Yami's solemn face. "We both know how unpredictable it is with a Millennium Item, not to mention a pharaoh's spirit whose destiny it is to save the world from the shadows. I don't expect I'll have a normal life, now."

Yami set the key back in the box and reached out to Yugi's shoulder again, his most tangible means of support. "If you ask me, I think the game shop is a perfect idea. You and I can keep an eye on every last thing having to do with Duel Monsters, and if a shadow game erupts, we'll know. But I suppose you're right – we can only take each day, one by one. Whatever happens, happens."

"Besides," Yugi shrugged, "I don't want to be some poor pathetic office worker somewhere. That kind of job would smother me. Taking over the game shop from Grandpa is a much more appealing idea."

Yami raised an eyebrow. "There is always going to work for Kaiba."

Yugi laughed so hard he almost collapsed on the floor. "What?" Yami persisted. "I am only half joking. He does produce game technology."

"Yeah, but do you really think he'd let _me_ anywhere near Kaiba Corp.? His sworn rival?"

Yami smiled slightly. "I suppose not."

Yugi straightened up and caught his breath, wiping away a tear of mirth. "Nice try."

The pharaoh smirked and glanced back into the box in his hands. "There isn't very much else in here. You don't seem to have a lot of dreams right now."

"Yeah, well, it's like I said…I'm living in the moment. I don't have much chance to dream about things I don't have, and really, what's the point?"

"It's good to have dreams, Yugi. I hope I'm not preventing you from dreaming."

Yugi smiled warmly. "You're not, don't worry."

Yami looked away from him, into the box instead, lifting out a photograph. After a moment he started, letting out a small gasp. "What does this mean?" he whispered.

Yugi pressed his hand to get him to show the photo. It was their group of friends, Joey, Tristan, Téa, Serenity, Duke…and the two of them, side by side, arms over each others' shoulders and not dressed alike for once. It was clear by the way Joey leaned on Yami that the people in the photo saw the tall, lanky pharaoh as someone real, tangible, physically there with them. "Oh," Yugi breathed, understanding. "It's…nothing, it's a silly dream."

"But what is it?" Yami's eyes were hard with question. "I must know, Yugi. What does this mean?"

"I kind of hoped, maybe someday, all this stuff with destiny and the shadow games would be over," Yugi explained, keeping his eyes averted away, "and we could find a way to free you from the Millennium Puzzle, so you could live a regular life. Not that I want to get rid of you," he quickly added. "I like having you a part of me, you're my closest friend. But…I thought maybe you'd want to get free of me, and have a body of your own, a life of your own." He looked timidly up at Yami, afraid of his reaction. "I know it's probably not possible, but no one ever said dreams had to be attainable."

"Yugi…" Yami put the photo back and closed the box of dreams, setting it aside before turning to his young companion and resting his hands on his lithe shoulders. "Even if it were possible, I wouldn't do it to get away from you. I could never do that. You mean a great deal to me."

Yugi lifted his head, glad to see the peaceful look in the violet eyes looking back. "I just hate to think that you have to suffer with this existence, being only a spirit, and the only way you can actually feel and live is to live through my body. I wish you could be free, so we could hang out together and duel each other, and…" He glanced away again. "Well, you saw the picture. I wish my friends could get to know you the way I do."

"They know me well enough." Yami smiled even more firmly. "Your dream is beautiful, Yugi, thank you. That you care enough about me to wish the impossible for me…that's something I'll treasure. But I'm content with what I have – being joined with you, guiding you, is a very good existence. I wouldn't trade it for anything."

Yugi's innocent eyes darkened a little as he met the pharaoh's commanding gaze. "Yami…what will happen to you when I die?"

Yami stared, taken aback. "What…?"

"I expect to have you around one way or another for the rest of my life," the young man explained. "Our destinies lie together now. But…you're already a spirit. What if I…what happens if I die? Where will you go? Will someone else inherit the Millennium Puzzle, and you, then? Or…" His voice faltered, and he fell silent.

The hands on his shoulders squeezed a little. Yami bowed his head, his eyes falling closed. "I don't know," he said, his voice low and rough. "I don't think anyone else will become the Puzzle's keeper. You are the Chosen One, Yugi. There is no one else like you. If you die…"

"You could always take over my body, then," Yugi said faintly.

"No, it's not possible," Yami argued, shaking his head. "I depend on you, Yugi. If you die, I will die with you. Our spirits will both be free, then."

Yugi clenched his jaw to keep his emotions in check, turning his head away. As he did so, he noticed one of the boxes under the bed with its lid half off, hiding in a deeper shadow that didn't seem to be part of the natural lighting. What he could see from this angle, that he hadn't seen before, was the label: "Fears." He reached up and placed a hand over the one on his shoulder. "I don't want to lose you, Yami. You know that's been a fear of mine ever since…"

"Marik," Yami said in a low growl. "Yes, I know. Do you fear death, then?"

"No," Yugi replied with a shake of his head. "I've never been afraid of dying. Not that it ever really was something I had to face. But lately, with everything that we've been through, watching my friends suffer, having the fate of the world on my shoulders, fighting in the shadow realm…"

Yami glanced up and finally saw the opened box himself. "Now," he said quietly, ruefully, "you have many fears. Because of me."

"Not because of you," Yugi quickly corrected him. "I've seen and experienced a lot of amazing things because of you, but I don't blame you for my fears. It's not your fault, it's…me. I've never had someone get as close to me as you have, and I need your strength and guidance to get me through this crazy world. My greatest fear is that I'll lose you somehow, whether someone takes the Puzzle, or steals your power, or any of the million things that could go wrong."

Yami stood there gazing down at his companion for a moment, and then found himself reaching out, taking him into his arms, holding little Yugi against his chest in a secure, comforting embrace. He had never been so willing to even touch the young one before, much less let down his guard and so boldly allow Yugi inside his personal space. Comfort was not something Yami was used to giving. Yugi sighed against his chest, letting himself be held. "I can't tell you not to be afraid," Yami murmured, "because I suppose some part of me shares that fear. And you're right, we have been through much. So many threats lay against me that sometimes I worry over the burden I've become to you."

Yugi lifted his head. "You're not a burden! I don't think that."

"Maybe not, but you have paid a great price since I entered your life," Yami said knowingly. "I understand your fear, but I must also say this. Not once, no matter how dark and hopeless things looked, have you abandoned me. You stood by my side even while your friends were being taken away from you, when it looked as though we were about to lose everything. First to Pegasus, then to Marik. You never backed down, and you never lost your faith in me. You may fear losing me, but I think you will also fight to the last of your ability not to let that ever happen. You nearly lost your life once just to be able to save the Puzzle and my spirit with it. I believe in you, Yugi." Yami smiled kindly down at him. "And I believe that if that threat ever became real, you won't let your fear get the best of you."

Feeling tears stinging his eyes, Yugi shut them tightly and lowered his head. "How do you know? Maybe my fear is so great that it'll rise up and crush me."

"I don't think so. No fear is any more powerful than the shadow magic we've faced and defeated time and time again." Yami let his arms slide away from Yugi. "Now, let's close that box before any more of your fears escape." Leaving the little one standing there, he went over to the box under the bed, hesitant to touch the shadowy edges of it. The lid, however, would not budge for him, no matter how much strength he threw into trying to lift it. "It's no use," he said, glancing back to find Yugi watching him with wide eyes. "I think you have to do it."

Yugi joined him and knelt down, peering at the dark vapors seething out of the box. For a second his heart went cold, and everything he feared, from the petty worries to the mind-numbing fear of losing Yami, reared up in his head with the jitter of harsh, unfriendly voices. But Yami's hand touched his, and he recalled the warmth and strength of that kind embrace just moments before. "You're right," he said firmly. "I wasn't afraid when I stood facing Marik, I'm not going to be afraid now." He picked up the lid of the box and slammed it firmly on top, shoving the box way back under the bed.

"Excellent," Yami said with a smile. "At least you know of your fear. It's easier to face it when you can identify it."

Yugi stood up just enough to flop to a seat on the bed. "That wasn't very fun. The last thing I need right now is a good look into the deep, dark parts of my soul."

Yami pushed himself to his feet. "I admit, I didn't think you had any. I thought that was all me, while you were the one who was lighthearted and innocent."

Yugi laughed wryly. "I may look innocent, but you said it yourself – there's more than meets the eye with me," he said ruefully. "If nothing else, having you in my life and going through everything we have has made me grow up a lot faster. I bet there's adults who've never faced the sort of things I have."

Yami nodded his agreement as he wandered away, still poking curiously through Yugi's mental collection. "I must say, you've handled it exceptionally well. Any lesser man would have had his spirit crushed, but you've only grown stronger. And yet you still manage to hang onto your honor and pure-heartedness."

"Are you sure you haven't looked into my mind before?" Yugi teased him.

Yami smirked back. "You forget, when you and I are fused, I know and feel the same things you do."

"Oh, yeah, right. I knew that."

Finding something interesting on the desk along with the schoolbooks and photos of friends, Yami gave a little chuckle. "Everything you know about Duel Monsters…"

"Huh?" Yugi glanced over.

Yami waved a paperback-sized book at him. "At least that's what it says."

Yugi grinned. "Yeah, figures something like that would be in here. It looks really well-used, too."

"I should hope so." Yami replaced the book carefully so as not to lose it in the piles of disorganized information. "I know from experience that I'm not always responsible for your quick thinking and clever strategies in mid-duel."

"Yeah? Wow. Thanks, Yami."

The pharaoh nodded, leaning against the desk. As he did, his foot clunked against the wastebasket tucked partially underneath, and something fell out of it. "No need to thank me, Yugi, I'm simply telling the truth," he continued. "You are a top-caliber duelist in your own right. When you and I duel, we duel as a complete team. Neither one of us is ever completely in control of the other."

"Yeah, I sort of got that feeling. I can…sense it, I guess." Yugi pushed himself off the bed and went to pick up the piece of paper that had fallen out of the wastebasket and return it to its place, but as he did, he glanced over it and saw what it was. His violet eyes grew sad, and he sighed out a little, "Oh…"

"Yugi? What is it?" Yami noticed the change in the youngster's demeanor and frowned.

"Funny, and you just asked me about this a few minutes ago." Yugi stood and brought the paper into the light. Dirty, stained, wrinkled, torn and mangled, much of the writing smudged, it looked like it might have been a card, but apart from the pink and red shapes that looked suspiciously like hearts, much of its content had been rendered illegible. A big, muddy footprint across the front had ruined the message, and a good chunk had been ripped out of one corner. "It's…my feelings for Téa."

Yami stared at him. "Is this…a note, you intended to give her?"

"Well, no…I mean, I did have an idea just like this once," Yugi feebly explained, "around Valentine's Day a year ago. I never actually made it, though. Good thing I didn't – I don't think she would have taken it well. Look." He traced the footprint on the front cover of the card with a finger. "I'd know that shoe-print anywhere, that's hers. It's like she stomped all over it."

Yami's frown deepened in concern. "Yugi, I don't think Téa would be so cruel as to step on your love note."

"No, but everything in here is a metaphor of sorts." Yugi turned the card over in his hand, looking at all parts of it with a wry half-smile. "This is what it feels like to me. Téa and I are really good friends, I know she cares about me in that sense, but…I can see now that that's it. She only sees me as a friend, we've known each other so long that she couldn't possibly feel different about me. Besides," he added, lowering his voice to a petulant murmur, "she'd rather have you."

Yami's eyes flew wide open. "Me? What do you mean?"

"Téa was the first one to realize I had another spirit inside me," Yugi mumbled, his head bowed. "She knows the difference between us. Why do you think she agreed to spend a day with you? It wasn't just to help you uncover your past, you know."

The pharaoh shook his head slowly. "I had no idea. Yugi…you know I wouldn't do that to you. I honestly never saw it, I don't care about those sorts of things."

"I don't blame you, Yami," Yugi said softly. "I know it's not something you can control. That was probably the end of it – I thought maybe if she spent the day with us, it was the best chance I had, but that only opened my eyes to the facts. Téa doesn't like me that way, so I've let it go. That's why this was in the trash." He waved the card threateningly, as if to throw it away again.

"If it helps," Yami tried to say, "I was sort of bored that day."

"What? Yami!" Yugi yelped. "Téa is my friend! She's cool!"

"Yes, she's a very good friend, and very nice," the pharaoh agreed. "But I had a lot on my mind and wasn't in the mood for idle chatter and kids' games that day. I have nothing against Téa herself," he added with a smile.

Understanding crept into Yugi's thoughts and made him sigh, his shoulders heaving. "I suppose I can see your point. You probably don't understand what the big deal is in this world, when you've got something like the shadow realm on your mind."

"But I do know what a big deal your feelings are." Yami touched his young companion's shoulder gently. "Just make sure you're letting go of them for the right reason. Are you sure Téa doesn't return them? Or are you simply afraid she would only like you because of me?"

"Maybe a little bit of both. But…" Yugi looked up at the tall pharaoh's spirit. "…her dream is to move to America and study dance, and maybe dance on Broadway. She's always said she won't let anything get in the way of that dream, especially not a boyfriend back here. I know I don't have a chance, I'm just a cute little kid to her. Even if you weren't here, I wouldn't have a chance, I know that. I mean, I always thought she and Tristan might go out, but even he's just a friend to her."

"I see you've thought about this a lot," Yami wisely observed. "As long as you're not giving up prematurely."

"I'm not," Yugi assured him with a weak smile. "I'm just finally seeing what I was too blind to see before. It's okay. It's part of life. I'm moving on." He looked over the valentine once more, but instead of tipping it into the wastebasket beneath the desk, he frowned in thought, and then headed towards the left-hand door set into the adjacent wall. Yami followed out of curiosity. Yugi went into the Memory room and hunted for a moment, finding the dull gray box marked "Regrets." He lifted the cover and placed the crushed valentine gingerly on top of the pile inside, closing it and giving it a final pat. "There," he breathed, aware Yami was watching from the doorway. "This is where it belongs, I think."

Yami bowed his head and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry to see that you regret your feelings."

"Not so much the feelings, as never making anything out of them." Yugi returned to him, shouldering past into the main room. Yami politely closed the door to the Memories for him. "I'm sure there'll be another chance someday. Right?"

"I suppose." Yami's eyes followed Yugi as he went to go sit on the bed again, passing a mirror on the opposite wall in the process. The pharaoh started at the image that appeared in the mirror for that brief moment. "Wait…Yugi, step back there a moment."

"Hmm?" Yugi did so, and then turned his head to look into the mirror. The image looking back differed greatly – smaller, much younger, appearing maybe nine or ten years old, and clad in a school uniform. His hair was remarkably tame, but still the same style and multiple colors. Yugi blinked at the image, but didn't seem very startled by its strangeness. "What kind of mirror is this?" he wondered aloud. "I don't have one like it in my room."

Yami stepped up alongside him, out of view of the mirror but close enough to see Yugi's image in it. "Is this how you see yourself?" he asked very quietly, a bit concerned. "This isn't an image from the past…this is you, your self-image."

Yugi studied the reflection and sighed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

"You're not that young," Yami tried to counter. "This isn't right."

"What's not right about it?"

Yami frowned deeply. "You still see yourself as a small child. You are not – you are a maturing young man, full of life. I don't understand what would make you think you're…" He gestured at the mirror. "…that."

Yugi regarded the image's scared eyes and timid frown. "I may be getting older, but I'm still a runt," he complained. "Maybe I don't get picked on as much anymore, but…"

"It's all that talk about Téa, isn't it?" Yami looked pained. "I didn't mean to bring up something so personal to you. But…you shouldn't think of yourself as a child. You are so much more than that, Yugi. This image of you is false."

Yugi shook his head. "Thanks, Yami, but…what can you do about it? This is my mental image."

"Close your eyes. Just listen to me, for a moment."

Sighing, Yugi did so, though there was a brief silence first. He felt the warm pressure of hands on his shoulders, and then heard the pharaoh's deep, rich voice murmuring just behind him, almost in his ear. "I've watched you grow into a graceful young man, who still manages to keep a kind smile on his face even when it seems like the universe is against him. Your eyes are always smiling, and though you've been through hell, it doesn't show. You may be an innocent, but it's nothing to be ashamed of." A pause, a soft sigh. "Do you know? I keep hearing people who speak of the pharaoh who locked away the shadow magic, saying how brave he was, how powerful, and I think to myself, they couldn't possibly be talking about me. But then, I see you…how brave you are, standing up to the challenges you've had to face, remaining strong even as your hope and life were being drained from you. You pushed yourself to save lost souls, and dedicated yourself to helping me save the world, without hesitating. When I see how brave and strong you are, I realize that people might be right after all." Yami chuckled a bit. "Since you should be, in some sense, a reincarnation of me. I see all the things in you that I would like to see in myself, and I like what I see."

Yugi took a deep breath and let it out slowly, letting the words sink into his heart. Yami's calming voice made it so easy to believe every word he said. After another short pause, the hands on his shoulders squeezed and Yami said, "Open your eyes and look in the mirror."

Yugi slowly lifted his head and looked toward the mirror again, his eyes widening at the new image staring back at him. It was a perfect reflection, a striking teenage boy with beautiful eyes and youthful features, his slender arms hanging at his sides, the long locks of blond hair teasing his face where they fell across his cheeks. There was indeed innocence there, but also maturity, and a hint of confidence that wasn't there before. It was how he always looked when he glanced in the mirror, in reality, but there was something more there, something subtle he couldn't identify. His heart warmed within him, and he found himself beginning to smile again. "Thanks, Yami," he said softly, turning away from the mirror. "You always seem to know what to say to help me out."

Yami smiled back. "Perhaps I do know you better than I thought I did."

Yugi clawed a hand through his hair, sweeping it back from his face. "All this introspection is making me even more tired than I was. When I wake up, I'm not going to be rested at all."

"I'm sorry," Yami said honestly. "I didn't realize it would be this way when you offered to let me into your mind."

"Nah, it's okay," Yugi reassured, waving a hand. "I want you to know more about me, even the stuff I don't like." He resumed his interrupted trek towards the bed, flopping down on it with a huge sigh. "Sometimes I think you're lucky, not being able to remember the bad things about your life."

Yami leaned against the shelf nearest him and folded his arms over his chest. "But I also can't remember the good things," he murmured solemnly. "Unfortunately, you can't choose which memories to retain. It's all or nothing."

Yugi gazed worriedly at him. "Oh, right. Sorry, I…didn't think."

The pharaoh's eyes closed. "At least I know I won't be alone, when and if those memories do return. I have you to support me. If they turn out to be painful, I know I can withstand them."

"I can't even imagine what it would be like," Yugi mused. "Here I am, complaining about the dark parts of my life, but that probably doesn't even compare to what you've been through. I mean…I'm very well acquainted with the shadow realm now. You've probably been there a lot more, and had to use the magic to fight evil or something."

"Most likely." Yami blinked at the floor as he thought. "Everything is just out of my reach. I know it's there…I've tapped into my powers a few times, almost by instinct. But so much of it is still in darkness."

Yugi crossed his legs on the bed and sat forward, gazing seriously at the pharaoh's spirit. "I just wish I could help you find it. I feel so helpless sometimes, like my hands are tied."

"You do as much as you can, and then some," Yami said reassuringly. "Just knowing that you're trying your hardest is something, Yugi." His eyes wandered as he stood there, a faint smile on his lips. On the shelf near his hip sat a few more boxes, some ornate, some plain, most of the labels hidden from him by the way they were stacked. But one caught his attention, on a lurid red box locked with a golden clasp: it said "Fantasies." He perked up for a moment, intrigued by the thought that young, naïve Yugi actually had some, but then realized that some things should be kept private, even between two minds such as theirs. He decided not to touch the box, returning to their conversation instead. "Thank you for giving of yourself, for letting me in this far. Your trust in me is something I will not take for granted."

"You're always welcome, Yami," Yugi smiled. "You've done so much for me, it's the least I can do in return. Anything you want to know about me, just ask. I won't hide anything from you."

Yami glanced sidelong at the red box beside him. "Even so, this is your mind, it's not free for me to peruse. Anything you want to keep to yourself, you can. I won't intrude unless given your permission."

Yugi nodded his acceptance. "I can't say as I've exactly had fun doing this, it's been hard, but…I'm glad we did. Now I realize, there is so much more about me that I could share with you."

Yami gave him a strong, understanding smile. "You see, now, what I meant?" His younger side nodded firmly. The pharaoh looked up at the beam of sunshine slanting in through the skylight. "You may worry about the less pleasant aspects of your mind, but I admit, this is an inviting place to be, unlike the confusing passageways of my mind. The darkness, it's so cold, so unfriendly. Your mind is so full of light and life."

Yugi bowed his head, growing solemn again. "But there are shadows here, as well."

"For you, perhaps. But your light overwhelms them, they can't survive here for long." Yami straightened up. "Well, then. If this exercise hasn't been restful for you, perhaps we should end it. I…wait." His head turned toward the door that led to the rest of the house. "What is that?"

"What?"

"I hear something."

Frowning in confusion, Yugi hopped off the bed and went to the door, peering out. Sure enough, the faint sound of music drifted in from down the hall. The two spirits looked at each other and decided to investigate, Yami following Yugi down to the living room. The song became clearer as they went, and they found the source in the main room of the Muto house. A stereo on the bookshelf warbled with a bouncy dance song, a light vocal singing "Ai-yai-yai, I'm your little butterfly…"

Yami made an exceptionally confused face, but Yugi just clapped a hand to his forehead and let out an aggravated growl. "Oh, not that song again!" he complained.

"What?" his companion pressed.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "I stopped by the arcade to meet Joey after school, for a little bit. Some people were playing DDR while we were in there, I must have heard that song at least three or four times! It got stuck in my head, I was still hearing it when I laid down to take a nap!"

Yami blinked at him, and then laughed. "So, this is what it's like to have a song in your head."

"Argh, stupid DDR song!" Yugi reached to turn the stereo off and banish the obnoxious song from his mind, but he couldn't find an "off" switch anywhere on the console. Growling again, he simply beat on it with a fist, but the song didn't even skip. "I can't turn it off," he sighed. "Now it's going to be stuck in my head all night, too."

"We'll just have to escape it, then," Yami realized, trying not to smirk at his partner's predicament. Yugi nodded his agreement and led the way back down the hall to his room, shutting the door behind them in the hopes that it would stifle the strains of music still drifting back to him. Yami paused in front of the door marked with the Mystic Eye, hesitant to return to his side, to the dark confines of the Millennium Puzzle. "At least now I know that I'm not alone, that there is more to both our minds."

"If you can get in here without me, you're welcome to come," Yugi offered. "I really don't know how this works, or where you and I really are right now, technically speaking. All I know is, I went to take a nap, and wound up here instead."

"You didn't intend to visit with me?"

"Well…" Yugi grinned sheepishly. "I was sort of thinking about how nice it would be to escape the world for a bit and hang out with you. That must have done it. All I have to do is want it, even subconsciously."

Yami matched his smile. "I'm glad you did, Yugi."

"I don't know how long I've been asleep, though," the youngster continued. "I should probably go. I have to make dinner, Grandpa is watching the shop until it closes tonight."

Yami laid his hand on the latch of the door and pulled it open, revealing the small chamber and the opposing door that led to the twisted corridors of the Puzzle's sanctuary. "Then, I'll leave you to that. You have my word that I won't intrude into the privacy of your mind when you've got more important things to think about, especially school." He gave Yugi a wry smile over his shoulder as they passed into the toy-strewn chamber. "I won't be responsible for distracting you when there are exams coming up."

Yugi sighed long. "Yeah, exams. Great. I'm going to need some serious distraction after that." He looked around the chamber while Yami crossed to the far door. "Hmm, that's strange. There's always been toys and stuff in here, when I've come here, but now that I look at it, I think there's less of them than there used to be." He gave Yami a thoughtful look. "What does that say about my innocence?"

Yami stopped with his hand reaching toward the doorknob, speaking with his back still to his younger half. "No one can pass through life remaining completely innocent, Yugi," he said in a low voice. "There are some things you should not remain naïve about. But I have faith in you." He glanced over his shoulder, his smile returning. "After everything you've been through, you still retain your good heart, your trust, and your kindness and generosity. Your innocence will never be fully taken away from you, as long as you keep to your honor and goodness."

Yugi very nearly blushed at the kind comments from the pharaoh. "Thanks, Yami."

Yami nodded and opened the door to the corridor. "It's time for you to wake up now. You have things to do."

Taking a deep breath, Yugi stirred and slowly blinked his eyes open, remembering after a moment where he was. The dim red light of sunset filtered into his room, mainly through the skylight, revealing it to be his true room and not the version of his inner mind cluttered with extra items. He rubbed his eyes and sat up, the Millennium Puzzle on its chain jingling as its familiar weight sagged against his chest. Yugi smiled to himself and realized that he actually did feel a bit better now, as he got up to take care of his chores.

**Author's Note:**

**Digging through my fanfiction library, I came across this. It has been forever since was written. Middle School maybe? I figured I might as well post it here. This will my first story posted here on ffnet. I don't really know what all goes into it. Maybe someone who knows more can tell me what this "beta" thing is and if I need one? Till next time.**

**Locondra**


	2. Part 2- Against the Darkness

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.**

Part 2

Against the Darkness

Yugi hummed a bit to himself as he tucked the last book in his backpack and closed it, glad to be escaping school without having to stay after like Joey and Tristan – yet again. His homework was nearly done, too, so he looked forward to having a little bit of free time that evening to hang out or play Duel Monsters, something fun for once. He straightened up and closed the door of his locker, which revealed a face hovering quietly behind it waiting to catch his attention. Yugi started with a little yelp, and then grinned. "Oh, Bakura. It's just you."

Ryou Bakura smiled a little, his dark eyes sparkling. "Did I startle you?"

"I just didn't hear you sneak up on me," Yugi confessed. "What's up?"

"Nothing, really," came the reply. "I just saw you were about to leave. We can walk out together."

"Yeah, sure!" Yugi shouldered his backpack and turned to lead the way, Bakura drifting silently along beside and half a step behind him as they passed through the doors and crossed the schoolyard. "So, what have you been up to?" Yugi began as they walked. "I've been so busy trying to catch up after being away for Duelist's Kingdom, I haven't seen you around."

Bakura tucked one hand in his pants pocket, swinging his briefcase at his side with the other. "Oh, not much," he answered as casually as he could. "I had some catching-up to do myself. Oh! How is your grandfather?"

Yugi smiled up at the slightly-taller boy. "He's doing great. It's like nothing ever happened to him, he recovered really quickly. But, we Mutos are a resilient bunch, they say." He laughed cheerily. "I'm already knee-deep in chores, and it's only been a couple of weeks."

"Oh," Bakura said with some concern. "That's not very much fun, is it?"

Yugi continued to smile warmly, his eyes ahead of them. "I know it's just his way of saying thanks. He feels bad for what I had to go through to get him back, so if he just acts like everything's back to normal, it sort of makes up for it. I guess." He looked up at his companion again. "How about you? How are you doing?"

Bakura blinked in mild surprise at the question. "Me? Why…I suppose I'm just fine. It's kind of you to ask, Yugi, thank you."

Yugi's cheery look faded. "You went through a lot, too, and you never even entered a duel. Tristan told me what happened to you while I was dueling Pegasus. I hope everything's all right now."

Bakura lowered his eyes to the sidewalk. "Yes, it's just fine," he quietly said, though not very convincingly. "Tristan threw the Millennium Ring into the forest, it shouldn't be any more trouble."

Yugi stopped suddenly, forcing Bakura to pause also and turn to face him to see why. Large, violet eyes looked concernedly up at him. "You know you can talk to me about it, if you need to," Yugi offered. "No one else would understand, but I do. I have a Millennium Item too. I know some of what you're going through."

Ryou looked away, and gave the street around them a hunting look. This was not the sort of place he wanted to be chatting openly about his darkest secret. "Yugi," he faltered, "are you sure you want to be talking about this…here? Now?"

"Yeah, why not?" Yugi looked around also, and then tossed his head toward a gap in the hedge further up the sidewalk. "There's a little park just ahead, we can sit down. No one will bother us, don't worry."

Bakura nodded his consent, and followed little Yugi away, up the street to the sunny park dotted with trees and benches and random joggers. No one would take much notice of two boys fresh from school in their blue uniform jackets there, and perhaps it would be better to talk of dark matters under the bright protection of the sun. No shadows would haunt them here. Yugi led the way to a bench set back a bit from the footpath, under the branches of a tree that whispered soothingly in the light breeze. "I walk past this park every day to and from school," he murmured as he shrugged off his backpack and jacket, "but I don't think I've ever stopped here. Probably because there's no playground," he added with a giggle.

Bakura smiled very slightly as he watched Yugi settle onto the bench and spread his arms across the back, breathing deeply of the pleasant afternoon air and sighing in delight. _It's so like him. He could be staring death in the face and he would still have time for a smile_. Ryou only set his case down beside the backpack and perched himself on the edge of the bench, keeping a comfortable distance from his friend. "You're too kind to me, Yugi," he said softly. "Even after what happened at Duelist's Kingdom."

Yugi stared up through the branches of the tree at the blue sky beyond. "You mean the shadow duel," he realized. "I know that wasn't your fault, Bakura. You couldn't do anything about it. I don't hold anything against you."

Clasping his hands tightly and resting them on his knees, Bakura could only shake his head. "But it is my fault. I went to Duelist's Kingdom, without even knowing why I was. If I hadn't gone, if I'd only just listened to my instincts and stayed home, none of that would have happened."

"Hey." Yugi's arm slid from the back of the bench so his hand could rest on his friend's slender shoulder. "Don't think that way. Besides, I think you being there was a good thing. I'm kind of glad you were there, it was the first chance I got to get to know you. I mean, we're in the same class, but we never really talked before, you know?"

Ryou sat back a little, accepting the comfort of the hand on his shoulder. "Yes, I know. I'm grateful for that too, Yugi. You're a very good friend."

Yugi smiled again and let his hand drop. "I don't know how to be anything else. But, you wanted to talk about the Millennium Ring. Right?" His tone softened. "You can tell me anything, Bakura. After where I've been, I don't think anything will be too weird for me to hear anymore."

Bakura bowed his head. He didn't want to disrupt the comfortable moment between them. Taking a deep breath, he sighed long before deciding where to start. "Your spirit, the spirit of the Puzzle. You and he work together, don't you? Like…partners?"

"Well, yeah," Yugi hesitantly answered. His mind went immediately to the spirit who called himself Yami, and he could almost feel the presence with him, looking over his shoulder. "He's always there with me, but sometimes, I feel like it's him in control, guiding me. It's…sort of strange, but in a good way."

Bakura's melancholy eyes clouded even more as he sat there, head bowed, staring at his hands. "I wish I could say the same," he said quietly. "Mine just takes over. He's a thief, he steals my body. Sometimes, I don't even remember how I got somewhere, or why. Like Duelist's Kingdom – I found myself on the boat and I don't know how I got there." He chanced a brief look toward Yugi. "Your spirit is good. Mine is evil."

Yugi gave a small start. "Evil…?"

"Well, yes. What else would you call it?" Ryou glanced down again. "I never know when he's going to pop out, either. It's like he's always lurking there within me, listening and observing, waiting to hear something of interest, and then he takes over and takes me where I don't want to go. I can even hear him sometimes, in my nightmares, that…horrid, psychotic cackle…"

He trailed off into silence, and Yugi sat there watching him, unsure what to say for a while. In the end he settled for touching Ryo's shoulder again. "But, all that's gone, now, isn't it?" he wondered hopefully. "Now that the Ring is gone? It should be over with."

Bakura said nothing. The Ring was not gone, he knew. He knew it was at home, in his room, where the spirit still in control of his mind could summon it any time he needed. How it got there, after being chucked into the heart of the wild forest on the distant island, he had no idea. But the long, blank stretches in his memory probably had something to do with it. He couldn't tell Yugi, not without risk to the spirit within the pyramidal pendant resting in Yugi's lap. "I hope so," he finally said, barely above a whisper. "I don't really know how these things work."

Yugi sighed softly. "Neither do I, I guess," he admitted, glancing down at the Millennium Puzzle. "The spirit and I…we're both sort of groping about in the dark. I don't know what the Millennium Items are supposed to do, and he doesn't remember anything. But we'll find out together." He faced Bakura with a firm smile. "And you're going to be just fine. Don't give up hope. I know that if you just stay strong, and rely on your friends to be there for you, everything will get back to normal. You'll see."

Ryou gazed at him in wonder, his heart tugging at him in his chest. "You're so confident," he remarked. "I wish I could be as strong as you."

"Me? I'm not strong," Yugi said modestly. "I'm just stubborn. I don't know when to quit."

"But you _are_ strong." Bakura turned toward his friend, laying his hand gently over the one sitting beside him on the bench. "It wasn't the spirit of your Puzzle that chose to go to Duelist's Kingdom and face Pegasus, it was you. You had to be strong to make it that far. Do you know…" He hesitated, looking away. He had sort of wanted to have this talk, it was why he approached Yugi after school, but now that he had his chance, the prospect seemed downright terrifying. He groped for the right words to continue before his courage left him. "…Yugi, meeting up with you on the island was the best thing to happen to me in a long time. Until you let me into your group of friends, and talked to me, I…I didn't have any friends. I had no one."

"You did just move here," Yugi suggested, not flinching away from the hand on his. "It takes time."

"I know, but…no one at school seems to want to get to know me. Maybe they sense how different I am." Ryou blinked away tears, taking a breath to keep his composure. "But you didn't think twice. You just accepted me as I am, and even after my Ring tried to destroy you and take your Puzzle, you still kept me around and wanted to be my friend. You don't…know how much…that means to me."

Yugi tilted his head a little, surprised by Ryo's sudden rush of emotion. It took him a moment or two to think of a response that wouldn't sound stupid. "Of course I want to be your friend," he finally said. "It's not like I'm doing some great heroic thing. I always thought it was…just natural. Doesn't everybody welcome a new friend when they meet them?"

Bakura shook his head slowly, his long, silvery-white hair swishing around his delicate face. "No one has ever shown me that much kindness. Thank you, Yugi."

Yugi laughed nervously. "Aw, come on, there's no need to thank me. It's the least I can do, really. I like you, Bakura. You're smart, and friendly…" He grew somewhat serious. "…and no matter what you think, you _are_ brave and strong."

Bakura laughed weakly. "No, I'm not."

"You shouldn't doubt yourself." Yugi absently slid his hand away from Bakura's as he leaned back against the bench again. "You did a very brave thing, standing up to the spirit of the Ring the way you did, refusing to do what he wanted and taking over his monster instead of me. It takes strength to resist something like that. You may not feel like you have it," he added gently, sympathetically, "but you do. You would have sacrificed yourself for our sake." His voice dropped even more. "I won't forget that. That's the mark of a real friend."

Ryo's head drooped even more, hiding his face behind his long hair. He was at a complete loss for words, even the ones he had been rehearsing in his mind for at least a week. The wind rustled through the leaves of the tree, filling their brief silence with a soothing music. The dancing, shifting speckles of sunlight coming through the leaves fell on the golden Puzzle resting against Yugi's stomach, making it gleam and flash. Ryou glanced at it as he mustered the will to speak. "Yugi…" he began, and then faltered.

Yugi gave him another curious look. "Are you okay, Bakura?"

"It's nothing," Ryou answered, looking up and meeting those violet eyes. Those lovely, sweet, violet eyes. "I'm just not used to anyone being so nice to me."

Yugi turned on the bench to face his friend, curling one leg up underneath him. "You always seem so sad," he noted, his youthful voice warm with sympathy. "Even right now, I'm trying to make you feel better about yourself but you just seem to get…sadder. I wish there was something I could do."

Bakura managed a smile. "You've already done more than you'll ever know. I do feel better, really. That's not what's bothering me."

"What is it, then?"

Ryou looked sharply away. The honesty, sincerity, the earnest care in those eyes was too much to face. _How can anyone be this kind?_ Yugi continued, then. "I mean…if you want to tell me. You don't have to."

With his head bowed, Ryou could only see the small, graceful hands loosely clasped and resting on the bench between them. He couldn't resist reaching out again, laying his hand on top of them. "No, I…I want to," he whispered. "I'm just…scared to. I don't know how you'll react."

Yugi blinked at the hand covering his, perfectly confused by Bakura's words and actions. "I guess you'll just have to trust me," he offered. "I'll listen. I promise."

His companion let out a long, breathy sigh and barely lifted his head, just enough so Yugi could see the dark, brooding eyes beneath the falls of white hair, shining with liquid emotion. "I don't deserve someone so sweet as you, Yugi," Ryou murmured, "and not just because our Millennium Items seem to put us opposed to each other. But…you see past that, somehow. You make me feel like I matter. You always do that, even to the people who insult you and hate you – you only see the best in them. It's…such a nice quality." He raised his head even more, and chanced a faint smile. "Maybe that's why I've felt so drawn to you, ever since we crossed paths in Duelist's Kingdom."

Yugi's eyes widened. "Drawn…to me?"

Ryou nodded. "Perhaps it is only because I long for a friend like you with all my heart. But…I think it's more than that, now. I do admire you, Yugi, for being so brave, and kind, and talented. Even so, I find myself…" He paused, but decided it was too late to back out now, and just said it. "…falling in love with you."

Yugi's mouth fell open with a little gasp. He sat up straighter, but didn't recoil or withdraw his hands from beneath the warm shelter of Bakura's. "What…?" he managed to stammer. "In…love? Are you sure?"

A hint of blush colored Bakura's cheeks as he averted his gaze shyly. "Yes, I'm quite sure."

"But I…I'm not…" Yugi finally noticed his hands and pulled away, instinctively clasping the Puzzle instead. "Bakura, I don't…I mean…I like girls. I'm not…you know."

"Neither am I," Ryou softly admitted, "but I can't stop my heart from feeling this way. I just know that I do."

His hands tightening on the Millennium Puzzle, Yugi felt his face grow intensely hot as he stared at demure, submissive Bakura sitting across from him, brown eyes afraid to look at his friend and behold his reaction. The trace of a smile had completely disappeared, leaving him subdued and melancholy yet again. Yugi sat there for a long time, unsure what to say or do. He didn't want to hurt Bakura, but there was no way. _Right? No way this can go on_. Still, he couldn't help but wonder. _What does he see in me? How can someone love someone against type like that? What has he been through in his life that makes him think of this as love?_ He gradually let go of the Puzzle and let his hands fall into his lap. "Bakura…I do care about you. I won't lie. But…I'm afraid I don't think of you that way. You're my friend." Yugi hesitated as Bakura lifted his head and met his gaze at last, worried about the deep well of sadness behind those dark eyes. He had to say it, though. "I don't want to hurt your feelings, but I don't think it would work. I mean…I still don't even know you very well. What happened in Duelist's Kingdom…well, that made us friends, and I'm glad for that. But there's so much else I'm sure I could stand to learn about you, and you about me."

"I know," Ryou said quietly. "And I would like to get to know you more."

"But I don't think that's going to change the way I feel." Yugi clenched one hand into a fist, fighting against his instinct, and then gave in and reached out to touch Bakura's shoulder. Ryou looked at his hand, and then straight at Yugi in wonder. "I'm flattered," Yugi continued, trying to smile. "Really. No one's ever told me they liked me before. It's…kind of nice. But…I just don't have the same feelings for you. I'm sorry."

Though his eyes shimmered with unshed tears, Bakura forced a smile and shook his head slightly. "Don't apologize. I knew it was a risk, telling you. I didn't expect you to return my feelings. I just had to tell you…I had to get it out. I've held it to myself for so long, it aches inside."

"Oh, Bakura…" Yugi let his hand fall away, reaching instead for Bakura's hands and taking them in his to hold his attention. "You shouldn't do this to yourself. You have so much to give, so much life and love! I know you do, even if it's all bottled up inside. You shouldn't waste it on me, you should find someone who loves you back, no matter who it is. I know it's hard." His voice cracked unexpectedly, as a spear of empathetic emotion shot through him, a memory jarring his mind. Bakura gazed at him intently, wondering. "Believe me, I know. Not too long ago, I had my own feelings shot down big-time. Someone…who is a very dear friend to me, she didn't mean to hurt me but she had to do the same thing to me, tell me it wouldn't work between us because she doesn't feel the same. I understand it, now. I've moved on, life isn't meant to be wasted longing after things we can't have."

Ryou sighed and offered a smile. "Téa?"

Yugi smiled back and nodded, closing his eyes. "Yeah."

"That's awful. She doesn't know what she's missing."

"She just sees me as a friend, like a little brother or something. It's all right…I value her friendship, I wouldn't want to ruin it. We're just not meant for each other."

Bakura caressed the hands in his with his thumbs. "There's that strength of yours again. Always moving forward, never looking back."

Yugi blushed again, his heart doing strange things in his chest as he sat there and allowed Bakura to touch him. "Don't be fooled," he laughed wryly. "I know it's going to take me a long time to get over it. Especially if we keep hanging out together." He lifted his eyes to Bakura's face. "I'll understand if you don't want to hang out with me, if it hurts. I wouldn't blame you."

Ryou seemed to shrink back, even withdrawing his hands and clasping them tightly together. "Do you want me to go?" he asked in his most quiet whisper yet.

"No," Yugi quickly replied. "I don't mean to push you away. If you still want to be friends, I'm okay with that. I want to be friends."

"As do I," Bakura agreed, reaching up to wipe away one errant tear that threatened to escape. "I wasn't kidding earlier, I value your friendship more than anything and I feel so blessed to know you. I just hope I haven't offended you," he added morosely.

"No, no, it's okay," Yugi assured, a lightness returning to his voice. "I'm not offended. It's a compliment, really. I should thank you."

"There's no need." Bakura pushed himself to his feet, brushing off his jacket and bending to pick up his books. "Thank you for understanding."

Yugi looked up at him, worried. "Where are you going?"

"I should get home, I have schoolwork to finish." Ryou put on another obviously forced smile, his eyes betraying his pain. "And…if you don't mind, I think I'd like to be alone right now. I appreciate you letting me down gently, though."

"Yeah…sure," Yugi softly murmured, remaining seated on the bench. "I'm still here for you anytime you need, Bakura. That's what friends are for. Okay?" The other boy nodded silently. Yugi offered him a contrite smile. "We'll hang out sometime, if that's all right."

"Of course," Ryou said. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Yeah. Take care of yourself." Bakura gave him one last smile and turned to go, heading out to the path and disappearing around a bend. Yugi sat there a while longer, his mind a jumble of thoughts and feelings. That was certainly not something he ever expected to hear, least of all from Bakura. His compassionate heart led him into deeper concern for Bakura's sake, fretting about how much pain he was now in with his hopes dashed, worried that he was only compounding whatever problems already plagued the boy's life. _He's always so sad_, he mused to himself as he sat on the park bench and stared into the trees where Bakura had vanished. _He's never told me why, though I think I heard something about his dad always being away and never having time for him. And then there's the spirit of the Ring…_

Almost without realizing it, Yugi found himself communing with his own guardian spirit, as if Yami were seated on the bench beside him. _I don't know what I'd do if that happened to me. My spirit is my friend. I want to help him any way I can._

_And you have_, came a reply in his mind, phrased in the deeper, mature voice of Yami. _I consider you a friend as well, Yugi._

"Yeah," Yugi said aloud, under his breath, "but Bakura hasn't been so lucky. The spirit of the Ring controlled him, there's no telling what kinds of things he made Bakura do and he doesn't even remember any of it."

_Perhaps all the more reason for him to seek his shelter in you_, Yami wisely intoned. _He's been through a difficult time as well, and you're the only one who understands him. He can't confide in anyone else. You are kindred spirits, I suppose._

"I don't know," Yugi whispered. "Maybe. I feel so bad for him. I almost wish I did feel something for him, just to make him happy for even one second."

_You have a kind heart, Yugi_, Yami told him, _but don't let it lead you astray. Getting involved with Bakura for the wrong reasons will only lead to deeper hurt. You should be careful with him. We don't know how much of the evil spirit's influence still lingers on him. I don't want you to be hurt, either_.

Yugi bowed his head and nodded. _Thank you, Yami_, he responded within his mind. _I'll be careful, I promise. I know these kinds of feelings are nothing to be toyed with_. Still, some part of him, held private, outside the conversation, lingered on thoughts of Bakura, on the sweet words he spoke and the fleeting leap of excitement Yugi felt when his hands were being held. _He was kind of…well, I don't know if "cute" is the right word, but with his school jacket all buttoned up, and that cool hair…he always looks so nice. I'm such a slob next to him_. But he shrugged it off as he got up and collected his things, aware that his grandfather would be wondering what was taking him so long to get home.

Bakura walked at a steady, even pace, his head bowed so that his hair obscured his eyes and the tears still shining in them. He somehow managed to navigate the sidewalks and busy street crossings without stumbling or running into anyone, despite not really paying attention to where he was going. He kept replaying the unpleasant conversation in his mind, over and over, not because he wanted to hear those disappointing words again but because he couldn't avoid them. Yugi had always been so good to him, so sweet, he had gotten his hopes up that maybe, just maybe, confessing his attraction would bring about a miraculous result. As he paused on a corner to wait for the light, Bakura tried to sniffle back his tears. He never once questioned his feelings, he let them grow and develop despite not normally being attracted to boys. It felt good to embrace them, to find that his soul had not been completely numbed by the pain of life, that he still had the capacity to love someone so strongly. And no one was as worthy of his love as Yugi Muto, he was sure of it. Selfless, caring Yugi, whose compassion and mercy knew no limits, whose eyes always sparkled with a smile, whose strength and determination led him to stand up for his friends and face the darkest evil without wavering. And yet, he wasn't like some storybook or movie hero, all aloof and masculine, needing no one but himself; rather, he was soft, gentle, wearing his heart on his sleeve, still laughing, still a fun-loving little geek even after braving the shadow realm and nearly dying. Who wouldn't fall in love with someone like that?

The traffic lights changed twice while Bakura stood there thinking about Yugi, putting aside the conversation they had just had. _I can't just stop feeling this way_, he worried to himself. _He's right, it's going to take time to be over him, if I ever am. I love him too much to let go. But…_ He finally caught a break with the light and trudged into the crosswalk, melding with the throng of office workers and well-dressed shoppers swarming across the street. _Maybe I should. For his sake. What if the spirit of the Ring tries to take the Puzzle again? I don't want to put Yugi in any danger. I can't control the spirit, if it goes after him, I…_ He clenched his jaw, fighting against his emotions again. _No, I can't think that way. I can't let the spirit know how I feel about Yugi. He'll take advantage of it, I know he will! Damn it! Why do I have to be the one destined to carry the Ring? I don't want it!_

His eyes were becoming so blurred with tears that he couldn't see the sidewalk anymore. Bakura ducked into a gap between buildings, taking a few minutes to try to calm his hysteric breathing and swallow his tears. Though the Ring was not on him at the moment, he thought he could sense a stirring, a cold shadow deep in his mind that warned of the wicked, thieving spirit still remotely connected to him, as a leech to its host. He slid down the wall until he was crouched on the ground, his face in his hands as he broke down sobbing. _Oh Yugi…the one time I need your friendship, I can't ask for it. You were right to push me away…I'm cursed. Let me bear it alone, so I can protect you. I won't let him have you_. Ryou cried softly for a while there in the shadows, feeling the cold draft in his mind gradually melt away. At least he could count on the spirit of the Ring hating his strong, sensitive emotions and refusing to be a part of him at times like this. It was the only thing that saved him.

_And then the darkness came_. The peace and normalcy tore like paper in a storm, and it all started with the fire. I was there, I was with Yugi, helping him, just minutes before, and then our worlds shattered. I don't remember leaving, but I pray it wasn't my spirit, the Ring spirit, who started the fire. Yugi almost died. I wanted so much to visit him in the hospital, but I was afraid.

_After that, my long nightmare began_. I found myself with longer and longer blank spaces in my memory, hardly able to pull together a normal life between the blackouts. Another Millennium Item came into play, and the pull of it meant the spirit of the Ring was on a mission, pursuing treasure, and unfortunately dragging me along with him, using my body. I can't stop him, I can't break through and regain control of my mind and body when he's there, he has to let me go. Yugi's wrong, I'm not strong enough. I will never be strong enough to fight him. I can only hope against hope that I won't wake up to find myself about to die. Then again, perhaps only death will release me from this curse.

_Nightmare…it's a nightmare_. A long, cold darkness I can never escape from. Fleeting moments of lucidity, each one more horrifying than the last. I'm hurt. My arm is bleeding. Who are these people? The hospital. Flashes of light, searing-bright in contrast to the darkness. Maybe the darkness is my reality, and the bits of light and color are my dreams. The people laughing, the shiny, fancy room, the food and party…that had to have been a dream. It was there, and then it was gone, and the constant darkness remained.

_A moment of freedom, but why?_ My body is broken, I can't breathe, I don't know where I am or why I have a duel disk strapped to my arm. A vision of true terror looming over me – two enormous, gaping jaws with rows of knife-edged teeth, coil after slinking coil of sinewy red hide, slithering around me, great serrated wings opening wide, and it's coming for me. It wants to kill me. Yugi, oh Yugi, save me! But…isn't that Yugi standing beneath it, waiting to order the attack? I don't understand!

_Nothing compared to the darkness to follow, the bitter cold, the absolute loss of my mind. The shadow realm_. I didn't know how I got there, but I could guess. It had something to do with that stupid, greedy, selfish, psycho spirit of the Ring. The thief, the murderer. He took me with him and just abandoned me, he didn't even try to save me this time. But there was nothing I could do. No way I could stop it. My life is gone, now. And no one knows…no one cares…

_When the light returned, should I have been surprised that one of the first things I saw when my eyes opened was him? He did it…he saved me. Yugi_.

Closing his locker, Bakura gave a little sigh of relief that the day was over and turned to leave when he heard a familiar, friendly voice raised in laughter. He glanced over his shoulder just as a group of three boys came around the corner, school jackets unbuttoned in anticipation of getting out of there. Yugi walked ahead of Joey and Tristan, who were laughing and jostling each other roughly in the corridor. He saw the lone figure standing just a few feet away and waved. "Hey, Bakura!"

The boys stopped messing around long enough to come over and give Bakura amicable smiles and hellos. "Yugi, Joey, Tristan," Ryou greeted them, clasping both hands on the handles of his briefcase. "You three seem to be in a good mood."

"Of course! It's the weekend!" Joey exclaimed brightly. "Man, I am _so_ outta here. It's about time."

Bakura smiled brightly. "I should have known. You're off to make trouble, then?"

Joey just grinned. Tristan thumbed over his shoulder. "We're heading to the arcade. Want to come?"

Bakura tried not to let his smile fade. "No, thank you. I have…a lot to do at home. You guys have fun."

"Suit yourself," Joey shrugged. "I owe Tristan an ass-kicking at that 'Dead or Alive' game."

"Yeah, you can try," Tristan taunted.

Yugi just stood aside, studying their quiet friend's demeanor. "Hey, you guys go on ahead, I'll catch up with you," he suddenly requested.

"Hm?" Joey looked at him, confused. "What's up, Yug?"

Yugi waved a hand. "Nothing, I'll be right behind you."

The two taller boys looked at each other and then gave little shrugs, and departed with a "catch you later" for Bakura. Ryou waved gingerly at them and then turned to regard Yugi still standing there with him. "What is it, Yugi?"

"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Yugi replied with a smile, tugging at the straps of his backpack. "I was kind of worried about you. You've been sort of…scarce, ever since the Battle City tournament ended."

The half-smile finally disappeared completely from Ryo's face. He turned away and started walking slowly towards the door. "I didn't think you would want to talk to me, after what happened."

"What? Are you kidding?" Yugi kept up with him, his brow furrowed in concern. "I was scared _you_ didn't want to talk to _me_, after I had to attack you with Slifer and knock you out."

Bakura blinked at him, taken aback. "I…hardly even remember that part," he confessed. "I'm sure you only did what you had to."

"Well, yeah…but…" Yugi sighed softly. "I didn't want to hurt you. If the spirit of the Ring hadn't come out again, making it possible for me to attack him…I don't know what I would have done…" His head drooped sadly as they walked together. "It was awful. Everyone I care about got hurt. You even got sent to the shadow realm…"

A brief silence passed between them as they crossed the schoolyard to the gate. "But you saved me," Bakura finally said.

"Yeah." The two of them paused just outside school grounds, facing each other. Yugi looked up at his friend. "So…we're okay, then?"

Ryou nodded. "We're fine."

"Good! I was so worried about you." Yugi still looked anxious. "It's good to have you back. Are you all right?"

Bakura smiled warmly, touched by the concern. The feelings which had never abated flared up in his heart with fresh power. "As much as I can be. It's hard, sometimes, going about this life as if nothing strange happened."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow?" Ryou made a curious face as he thought. "Well…nothing, I guess. I hadn't made any plans."

Yugi gave him a renewed grin. "You want to hang out? I've got nothing else to do…"

"But…" Ryou glanced beyond Yugi as if expecting his friends to be waiting on the corner for him. "What about Joey, and Tristan and Téa?"

"Oh, Joey's going to go visit his sister," Yugi explained, "and I think Téa has to work. It's all right, I don't need to be around them all the time. Maybe I just want to spend some time with you, instead. What do you say?"

Bakura's hands clenched tighter on his case. "Um…all right, I guess so," he shyly answered. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. There's all kinds of things to do. Oh! There's a special horror-movie marathon at the cheap theatre," Yugi offered, beaming like a true geek should at the prospect.

Bakura gave him a pained look. "After Battle City, I think I've had enough horror to last me a while."

"Oh, right. I hadn't thought of that," Yugi said sheepishly. "Sorry."

"I'll go with you if you want to see it," Bakura added.

"No, no, it's okay. It doesn't matter – we can decide tomorrow, can't we? Come by the game shop at noon, I'll be done with my chores and we can figure out what there is to do in this town when there's no Duel Monsters tournaments." Yugi finished with a positively irresistible grin.

Ryou nodded, and smiled honestly. "It's a deal. I'll see you at noon, then."

"Cool! It'll be fun. See you then, Bakura!" Yugi called cheerily back as he raced away to join the others at the arcade.

Bakura waved farewell, and then let his hand fall onto his chest, where he could feel the shape of the Millennium Ring beneath his coat. His eyes remained clear and bright as he murmured, "And _you_ are not coming with me this time."

Shortly before noon the next day, Yugi was upstairs in his room putting the finishing touches on his preparations, having changed into something appropriate for a day on the town – a tight-fitting red shirt with an open collar that showed off the leather choker he liked to wear, and his slinky black pants. Settling the Millennium Puzzle around his neck, he buzzed past the mirror for approval and then went to his desk where his Duel Monsters deck sat in a position of honor. He hesitated with his hand stretched out over the deck, wondering whether he should bring it along or not. As if on cue, a vision of Yami drifted into his inner sight. "I would have thought by now you'd need a break from Duel Monsters," the pharaoh's spirit mused with some humor.

"Yeah, I was kind of thinking the same thing," Yugi admitted, easing his hand away. "Not that I'm sick of the game, no way. But…maybe I just don't want to be a temptation to Bakura." Yugi glanced sidelong, as if seeing the spirit standing there beside him, making the clothes look even sexier than they did on Yugi himself. "I don't know if he'd want to duel me, even if it was supposed to be just for fun."

"Perhaps you're right," Yami responded. "Tell me, Yugi. Why are you spending the day with Bakura, alone? Tristan said he wanted to go to the movies with you. This is sort of unusual."

Yugi let his gaze wander to the window, and the pleasant, sunny day waiting beyond. "I just feel like it's something I should do," he said. "Bakura has been through hell. My heart really goes out to him. Maybe if I spend a little time with him it'll cheer him up, and make him see that I'm not afraid of him just because of the Millennium Ring."

The vision of Yami looked wary. "All the same, you should be careful. I can't even begin to predict what the spirit of the Ring might do now. He's more dangerous than ever."

"I know." Yugi lifted his gaze to the spirit he could see with his sight alone. "I trust you to protect me. I'll do my best not to give that spirit the opportunity to come out, but if he does, I know we'll be able to handle it."

"Very well." The vision faded, and with exquisite timing, Yugi's grandfather called from the other room that he had a visitor.

Yugi found Bakura downstairs in the game shop, naturally poking over a display of rare Duel Monsters cards being sold individually. The white-haired boy straightened up immediately and smiled, his dark brown eyes glowing with a rare happiness when he saw Yugi arrive in the doorway. "Are we all set to go?" he asked.

"Uh huh," Yugi cheerfully nodded. "I'm done with my chores, and my homework, so we have the rest of the day to ourselves!" He glanced over Bakura's appearance for a second, as if checking to make sure he didn't have the Millennium Ring on him. He didn't – only a tear-shaped silver pendant on a thin chain lay against his purple t-shirt. He actually looked rather nice, Yugi briefly thought to himself, in a shirt and jeans that hugged his slender body flatteringly. "I'm just going to tell Grandpa that I'm going…where'd he go?"

Bakura sobered a little. "I don't think he wanted to be alone in the room with me. He said something about getting something from the back room."

"Oh." Yugi understood, considering that the last time Grandpa Muto had looked after Bakura by himself, he ended up with his mind in the shadow realm again. Still, it hurt to think that his own kind-hearted grandfather would show such prejudice against one of his friends, evil spirit or no evil spirit. He raised his voice and shouted, "We're going, now Grandpa! I'll call if I'm going to be out late!"

Grandpa Muto just called back from the storeroom. "You had better! Have a good time, you two!"

Yugi grinned up at Bakura as he passed and led the way out the door, holding it for a couple of kids coming into the store. "Did you see any cards you liked? I can get them for you at a discount if you want them."

"Oh, no, I was only curious," Bakura assured, tucking his hands shyly in the pockets of his jeans as they started off down the sidewalk. "I think my deck is strong enough as it is, though I don't expect I'll be playing much for a while." He glanced down at the boy beside him. "You didn't want to play today, did you? I-I didn't bring my deck…"

"No, it's okay. Neither did I. There's lots to do besides Duel Monsters," Yugi casually noted. "Like…um…"

The two of them shared a glance, and burst out laughing after a moment. "Well, I'm sure we'll think of something," Bakura said. "It's a nice day, we can walk around and see what we find."

"Yeah. I think that's a great idea," Yugi agreed.

They wandered around the downtown business district of Domino for a while, talking casually about school and anything else that would not lead to discussion of Duel Monsters, Battle City, or Millennium Items. Surprisingly, it wasn't hard, despite them both being primarily gamer geeks who didn't know much about sports or trendy teenage things. They spent some time hanging on the railing of a walkway over the busy pedestrian mall, sipping at iced mochas and people-watching while they compared favorite music and gossiped about fellow schoolmates getting into trouble for such trivial things as skipping class or fighting about girlfriends in the halls. Neither of them paid much attention to things the popular kids did or said, and they even talked about that for a while, taking a smug bit of pleasure in finding themselves agreeing on the subject and considering themselves better people for not being as petty and vain as the kids who spent their schooldays concerned about impressing each other and getting dates. "It's not as though I have a right to talk," Bakura reluctantly said. "Those kind of people don't want to talk to me, either."

"Oh, they're just snobs," Yugi snorted. "If they don't want to talk to you just because you're not popular, or you're quiet, or you like gaming, then they're probably not worth talking to anyway. I mean, really." He gazed out over the cityscape, lifting his eyes to the clear blue sky. "Life is too short to spend it being mean to people who are different from you. I just naturally look for the best in people, even people like Seto Kaiba. I'm always up for making new friends, no matter who they are, but if they're too concerned about their image or what people will think if they got caught talking to me…it's not worth it."

Bakura glanced sidelong at him as they leaned on the railing together, admiring him more than ever. "That's very wise of you. But you do realize, you are rare among people?"

Yugi looked at him with wide eyes. "I am?"

"I've never met anyone as selfless as you. You have an uncommon belief in friendship and loyalty – it's not a bad thing," Ryou added with a little chuckle. "On the contrary. I wish more people thought as you did."

A truly honored smile awakened on Yugi's face. "Thank you, Bakura."

Bakura turned around and rested his back against the railing. "So, do you want to keep moving? There's more to see around here. Some places I've never been before."

"Yeah, sure." Yugi shook his drink, disappointed to find that there was nothing left, and turned to join his companion. They headed down to the pedestrian mall themselves and walked up and down for a while, pausing to amuse themselves first at a bookstore and then at a strange clothing shop that carried a more extreme style that Yugi liked. The punk-haired sales clerk complimented him on his collar and armbands, making him blush and Ryou laugh. Not too far down the road was a game shop, but the boys decided to pass it by, since Yugi could look at games and cards any time he wanted to. But outside the shop stood a game console, an arcade machine for a rhythm game that had a small crowd clustered around it, watching the current pair of players stomping away on the dance pads. "Wow, look at them go," Yugi remarked, pausing for a moment to watch, craning his neck to see over the shoulders of people much taller than he.

"That's one game you've probably never tried," Bakura mused, glancing from Yugi to the arcade console.

Yugi looked back at him over his shoulder. "Actually, I have. A couple of times, Téa loves these kind of games." He grinned sheepishly and ruffled a hand through his spiky hair. "But, I do kind of suck at it."

Bakura gave him a teasing smile. "Well, for the King of Games, that's pretty surprising."

"Oh yeah?" Yugi grinned even more fiercely. "Care to take me on, then?"

Bakura started in surprise. "What? Me?"

"Come on. You couldn't possibly be worse than I am," Yugi teased right back.

"I don't know about that. I can't exactly dance."

"It's not about dancing…well, okay, it kind of is," Yugi tried to explain. "But you just have to step on the arrows at the right time. How hard can that be?"

"It must be very hard, if you can't manage to do it."

Yugi made a playful pout. "Oh, thanks a lot."

Bakura glanced across the watching crowd to the players and studied them for a moment. "All right, then," he decided. "If you're willing to embarrass yourself in front of all these strangers, then so can I."

"That's the spirit!" Yugi pushed his way through the people and checked to see who was in line for the game, but it looked like they were free to play next. Fortunately, when the two dancers making a spectacle finished and stepped down, panting and dripping and looking to friends for a drink, most of the crowd melted away, figuring they had seen the best of the action already. A scant few still hung around to watch the next pair of dancing duelists, including the previous players. Yugi stepped up with his coins and started scrolling through the game options. "Okay, so…let's see here. I think you and I ought to play on 'Light' level."

"What were those guys on?" Ryou wondered, glancing at the other players.

"Um, 'Heavy.'"

"Oh. Then, yes, 'Light.' Please."

Yugi selected it, and then ran through the listing of songs they could choose. "I don't know if I know any of these," he lamented.

"Then, just pick something that sounds good," Ryou suggested. "There! That one."

Yugi scrolled back to the song and let its sample play, and they both agreed that it sounded cool enough. Yugi hopped up on the platform next to Ryou, taking a deep breath and giving his friend a nervous smile. "Now remember…if both of us fail, we lose."

"Very well. Let's do it."

Fortunately, whether via luck or Yugi's subtle game skill, he had chosen a particularly easy song, and both of them made it through without crashing and failing. They spent a good part of it laughing at themselves, though, every time they missed a step or confused a right foot with a left. The second stage proved a little harder, and Bakura very nearly lost his dance gauge, but they cleared it. Both of them were starting to get into it, now, seeing how the steps on the screen were timed with the music and realizing that it was possible to play and have fun regardless of any sense of rhythm. Yugi picked a song for their third stage, they started off well, but gradually the song became harder and threw in some new tricks that they hadn't seen just by watching other people play. Bakura failed out, but doggedly kept going as long as the screen kept throwing arrows at him. Yugi was barely clinging to his victory, and nearly lost his balance a few steps from the end, but with a funny flailing move managed to stay upright and hit the last few arrows correctly, clearing the stage. As soon as the song was over, they both flopped back against the safety rails behind them and laughed at their complete ineptitude. Bakura tapped the advancing button with his toe to show their totaled scores, and they both blinked in shock to see that Ryou had edged out Yugi by a mere five thousand points. "What? No way!" Yugi yelped. "How did you do that?"

"I think it was the first song," Ryou answered, still staring mystified at the screen. "I did really well. But I failed the third one."

"Aw, it took me the whole first song just to get the hang of it." They stepped down off the arcade machine and through the lingering mob of people loitering in the area, glad that if any of them had been watching, none of them mocked the two of them for their lack of skill. Yugi was tempted to blame his loss on the distraction of his Millennium Puzzle jangling roughly around his neck as he played, but he said nothing to that effect. Instead, he enthused, "That was really fun."

"It was," Ryou agreed. "Now I see why it's such a popular game."

Yugi smiled up at him. He was thinking to himself about the lilting laughter he had heard coming from his friend all through the dance battle. It had been a very long time since he had heard Bakura laugh at all, much less so brightly and without reservation. It was good to see. _I knew this would be good for him. He needs this_. "So now what?" he queried.

"I don't know," Bakura replied. "But we should do something at least as fun as that."

With that goal in mind, the boys ended up at an arcade, once they realized they were a short walk from the gigantic gaming complex KaibaCorp had recently opened. On a day like this when everyone was out of school, the place was naturally packed, but they had no trouble finding something to do since neither of them had any desire to go anywhere near the Duel Monsters arenas. Instead, they dropped their money on several rounds of laser tag, since the Kaiba arcade boasted they now had the biggest state-of-the-art laser tag arena in the country. Yugi and Bakura played through at least four full games, first teaming up to guard each other against the onslaught of packs of annoying little kids, then splitting up and going every man for himself, trying to see who could rack up more kills than the other. Trigger-happy Yugi managed to come out ahead each time, though they had more fun looking over their score sheets to see which of them tagged the other more times. It looked like Bakura had snuck up on his friend a few extra times, tagging him in the back and running. Such strenuous gaming left them sweaty and tired, though, so they cooled down with a few rounds of air hockey, which was about the only game not fielding a long line of waiting players. Bakura showed surprising skill at it, his natural grace helping him almost effortlessly block the puck and send it shooting right back at Yugi. He wore an excited grin the whole time, practically tickled at being able to beat Yugi at something, even if both of them were too tired to put their best effort into it. Yugi still kept a light heart about it, since they were having fun and that mattered more than the score. He was delighted to see Bakura's smile, again thinking to himself that it had been far too long since he had seen Bakura so happy. In fact, he was hard pressed to remember Bakura ever being as happy as he looked right then and there, laughing and cheering as he chased the puck around the table. They played until they couldn't hold the paddles any longer, and decided together that they had had enough of the loud music and busy crowd and wanted to get some air. "You want to get something to eat?" Yugi wondered as they headed outside into cooler, fresher air. The sun was sinking low, and the sky above them stretched clear and golden without a cloud to be seen.

"Oh, yes, that would be nice," Bakura answered, taking a deep, contented breath. "How late can you be out, today?"

Yugi shrugged. "I told my grandpa I'd call him if I was going to be out late. And isn't tomorrow a conference day at school anyway?"

"That's right," Ryou recalled. "Well, there's certainly no need to get a good night's sleep before that, if we're going to be sitting in seminars all day, bored."

"You said it," Yugi groaned.

"I have an idea, then." Bakura paused and turned to his companion. "We can just go back to my place and order a pizza. My parents are out of town. We can watch videos or something."

"Yeah?" Yugi beamed. "Sounds like a plan to me!"

Bakura smiled at his approval and started off again, leading the way. He had never had anyone from school over before, but this felt extra-special to him. It was Yugi, after all. All day, Ryou had been unable to keep the spark of thrill out of his heart at just being with Yugi, enjoying his company, his encouragement, his friendliness. He couldn't help the way he felt when Yugi smiled at him, even though he knew it was pointless to keep thinking like that. _He already said no…but I can't let go_. Ryou glanced sideways at Yugi, returning the silent smile given to him. _He's been so good to me today. Does he realize that it's only making my feelings stronger?_ But he wasn't about to do some stupid, noble thing like ask Yugi to leave him alone. He would take any small moment shared, no matter how platonic the intention. It was all he had, all he could hope for, and he grasped for it like a beggar after crumbs.

After Bakura let them into his family's modest flat, he hunted up the number of the nearest pizza place while Yugi called his grandfather to verify that he had permission to be out late. Bakura came in to hear the last of the conversation. "No, we're just going to stay here and watch movies, I think. We're going to get a pizza. Okay. Yeah, I'll remember. Thanks, Grandpa." Yugi hung up the phone and handed it to his friend. "Everything's okay. I can stay."

"Excellent," Ryou enthused. "I've got the number, I'll call. Do you have any preference?"

Yugi laughed. "Are you kidding? I'll eat anything!"

Ryou chuckled back as he dialed. Yugi gave him a moment, glancing around to see what the room would tell him about Bakura's family. The main area was neat and well-kept, with surprisingly few personal effects. Ryo's case and neatly stacked books sat on a desk by the window, the only piece of furniture that looked to have gotten any use recently. The only art decorating the walls and shelves looked to be artifacts from all over the world – African masks, Mayan totems, Celtic carvings. Hearing Bakura hang up the phone, he wondered, "So, your parents are away on a trip?"

"Yes. My father had a seminar to give up north," Ryou answered quietly.

"How come you didn't go with them?"

"I had school." Ryou shrugged slightly. "I haven't been away with them for a long time. My father usually goes alone anyway, it's not often my mother has a chance to get away."

"Oh." Yugi flopped down on the couch. "And they don't mind you going off to tournaments every so often?"

Bakura grew more serious, glancing away. "Sometimes I wonder if they even notice I'm gone."

Yugi winced, realizing he had picked the wrong topic to small-talk about. He quickly decided to change gears. "Well, at least that means we have the place to ourselves, right?" he nervously laughed. "What do you want to watch? Oh…and how much do I owe for the pizza?"

"Don't worry about it," Ryou assured. "I can afford it."

"Are you sure? Aw, thanks Bakura." Yugi watched his friend go over to the cabinet and hunt through it. "So? What's the verdict?"

Bakura picked listlessly through the scant handful of movies in their collection. "I'm sorry, Yugi. We don't have a lot to choose from. Maybe there's something on tv."

"There's bound to be a bad martial arts movie on some channel," Yugi offered.

Ryou gave him a strange smile as he came over and turned the tv on. "You like those, do you?"

"Oh, they're funny, but you sort of have to make it fun on your own. Joey and I watch them with the sound off so we can make up our own dialogue."

"You do?"

"Yeah!" Yugi paused and stared in wonder at him. "You've never done that to a bad movie?"

"I admit, I don't watch a lot of movies," Ryou sighed as he sank to a seat next to Yugi. "Even if it's bad, I sort of force myself to sit through them. My father will watch almost anything except romance, so if I want to spend any time with him, it means sitting through an awful movie now and then."

Yugi gazed thoughtfully at him. "It sounds like your father isn't home a lot."

Bakura shook his head. "He isn't. His job keeps him traveling most of the time. But, that is how I ended up with the Millennium Ring," he ruefully pointed out. "He brought it back for me from Egypt. He used to do that a lot more when I was young, but lately…" He let his thought trail off unfinished.

"It must be tough," Yugi said sympathetically. "I know what it's like to be all alone, like that."

"I suppose, you're right." Bakura met his gaze with a curious look. "All you have now is your grandfather. No wonder you're so protective of him."

"Yeah." Yugi glanced briefly toward the tv chattering in the background. There was indeed a particularly cheesy martial arts flick running, but he suddenly didn't feel like watching it, even if he knew he and Bakura could come up with some hilarious dialogue by themselves. His mind revisited the events of the day, which brought a smile back to his face. "I had a lot of fun today, Bakura. I'm glad we got the chance to hang out."

"So am I," Ryou said, sitting calmly on the couch facing forward so he wouldn't have to look into Yugi's eyes while they talked. The temptation was too great. "I don't think I've ever had so much fun just…doing nothing."

"I don't know about nothing. We made a pretty good team against that pack of ankle-biters in the laser tag game."

"I hope that one kid learned his lesson, trying to follow us around and tag us repeatedly. Did you see the look on his face when you ambushed him in that corner?"

"That was hilarious!" Yugi beamed. "Even better than a video game. Video games don't scream like a little girl when you shoot them."

Bakura laughed brightly. "That's it! That's exactly the words to describe it. That was funny."

"We should do that again sometime."

"Perhaps Joey and Tristan would like to come along next time? I'll bet Tristan's really good at laser tag."

"I don't know, maybe." Yugi gave him an approving look. "If you don't mind me saying, Bakura, this is probably the most I've ever seen you smile. It's good to see."

Bakura averted his eyes to conceal the hint of a blush rising in his cheeks. "I have you to thank for it. You gave me a wonderful time I'll not soon forget, Yugi."

"I'm glad." Yugi sat forward on the couch, resting his arms on his knees. "I know you've been through a lot, I wanted to do something for you. It may not make up for what happened in Battle City, but it's the only thing I can do."

"It's more than enough," Ryou assured, looking toward him again. "I'm honored that you cared about me that much."

"You're my friend." Yugi dropped his eyes contritely. "I guess it was time I showed you that. I've had a lot of other things on my mind lately, I let a few important people slip through the cracks while Yami and I were busy saving the world."

"You don't have to say that, Yugi," Bakura murmured. "That's very important. I know you care, and you want to help everyone you know, but there's only so much one person can do. I don't think you forgot about me, so don't you think it either."

The two boys gazed at each other for a moment, and shared a silent nod of agreement. The discussion failed at that point, as they felt they had said enough and were content to sit back for a while and watch the mindlessly awful kung fu movie. The pizza came, and they slid down onto the floor to crowd around it and eat and make fun of the movie, an activity that allowed them both time and space to forget about heavy matters and deep conversations. But eventually the pizza was gone and the movie ended, and Bakura just clicked off the tv. "Well, that was…silly," he remarked.

"Silly is good." Yugi leaned back against the couch, feeling perfectly settled and unwilling to call it a night just yet, even though it had gotten dark outside. Bakura sat beside him, and they both stared absently at the blank tv. "Well. Now what?"

"Do we even have to do anything?" Ryou asked. "This is kind of nice, too."

"Yeah, I guess. It's been so crazy lately, I kind of forgot what it feels like to just sit and do nothing." Yugi drew his knees up to his chest and rested his arms on them. The Puzzle jingled a little as it settled safely in his lap. "Bakura…do you suppose we'll ever have a normal life, like all the other kids?"

Bakura blinked curiously at him. "You mean, because we have Millennium Items? Honestly…I don't know." He slumped against the couch, stretching out his legs. "Part of me dreams that I will someday be free of that evil spirit, and won't have to be constantly on my guard, trying to keep him out of my mind, but…I think that's all it is, a dream."

"Oh, Bakura," Yugi fretted. "I wish you could be free of him, too! No one deserves that, least of all you. You're too kind and gentle to have to suffer with that…that psycho."

Bakura lowered his eyes. "But you have a good spirit. Would you want to be free of him?"

Yugi sighed long. The answer was no, certainly not, but as he sat there thinking, he knew that his reasons for clinging to Yami's presence had become infinitely more complicated in recent weeks. He didn't just consider the pharaoh's spirit a friend and guardian, he was devoted to him in a way unlike anything else. Yami had become such an integral part of him, their relationship was more solid than any bond formed between friends or partners. Yugi wasn't sure, but at times he felt almost like saying that he loved Yami, though he didn't quite know what that meant. At the very least, no one in the world meant as much to him as Yami did, not even his grandfather, nor his dear, close friends whom he loved with all his heart. "I can't let go of Yami," he finally answered. "He's such a part of me now, it would be like cutting off an arm. But I know that means I probably won't have a normal life, whatever 'normal' is. I'm probably going to always be a target, for anyone who wants the pharaoh's secrets. That's kind of an unsettling thought, but…so be it." He glanced aside at Bakura, who was slouched so that his head was slightly lower than Yugi's. "But that's where you and I are different. I need Yami as much as he needs me. I have no reason to want to be free of him. You, on the other hand, shouldn't have to suffer with the spirit of the Ring. You should be free, and I promise that if ever I come across a way of helping you, I'll do it in a second. I'm sure there's a way. Marik…"

He stopped there, though, and the two of them shared a wary glance. Bringing up these memories could prove dangerous, but the subject had been broached. "Marik was restored," Bakura finished for him.

"And Marik wasn't completely innocent anyway. He may have been under an evil influence, but it started because he was greedy for the pharaoh's power and jealous that he couldn't have it. You're not like that." Yugi looked earnestly into those soft, brown eyes. "You haven't done anything to anyone, you're just a pure, innocent pawn in this terrible game."

Bakura lowered his eyes to where his hands lay clasped on his chest. "Yes, I know."

Yugi shifted toward him, his eyes soft and concerned. "I understand, now, why you always look so sad. You have to suffer so much, and for what?"

Ryou looked up at him. "You think I look…sad?"

"Well…it's like I said before. I don't think I've ever seen you smile as much as you did today."

Ryou couldn't help but smile yet again, though barely. "That was because of the excellent company. You're a good friend, Yugi."

"And now you say your father's always gone, and your mother doesn't notice you. You must feel so alone," Yugi worried with a note of grief in his voice. "You know you don't have to be. You have friends. You have me."

Bakura pushed himself up a little, resting on his elbow. "But I'm a danger to you. If I am alone, it's because I want to protect you."

Yugi gave a little gasp. "Bakura…"

The other boy closed his eyes for a moment. "If I were strong enough to resist the spirit of the Ring, I would not hesitate to take what you offer me. I wish I could spend more time with you, and the others. But I know I'm not strong. I can't do it. So, I will stay away from you, to protect you. It's the only way."

Yugi stared at him for a long time, his heart clenching with fear and anguish in his chest. "Wait. Does this mean…you still…love me?"

"I'm sorry, Yugi." Bakura lifted his eyes, and then sat up to face his friend. "I know you told me you weren't interested, and asked me to find someone else who could love me back. But I haven't been able to. I couldn't make myself stop loving you, sometimes when the darkness surrounds me that's all I have to hang onto. I know I'm only torturing myself, clinging to this foolish crush, but I need it to survive. As long as you still care about me in some sense, that's enough."

Yugi shook his head sadly, the long blond locks swishing around his face. "You shouldn't do that to yourself. You deserve so much better. That's no way to live."

Bakura let his eyes close again. "It's the way I've always lived. I can't wait for things to get better, they never have. All I can do is hold onto the small joys that come my way."

He suddenly felt the warmth of hands on his face, and looked to see Yugi cupping his cheeks in both hands, raising his face so their eyes could meet. "I'm so sorry," Yugi whispered painfully. "I'm sorry there isn't anything I can do to make it better, or to show you that you don't have to live with this kind of pain and doubt. It breaks my heart."

Ryou smiled sadly. "How could I not love you, when you treat me like this?" Yugi's hands fell away, but rested on his knee within reach. Bakura laid a hand on top of them. "You shouldn't be surprised that I can't let go of my feelings."

"I'm nothing special," Yugi laughed weakly. "I'm just a short little geek who likes games. The girls don't even think I'm cute."

"They're wrong," Ryou said bluntly. "I think you're cute. You have an adorable smile."

Yugi felt his face grow hot. "Yeah, well," he stammered, "you have nice eyes."

Now it was Bakura's turn to blush. He stared in surprise. "You…what? Did you just…? Yugi, I'm confused…"

"So am I," Yugi said plainly. "But…I have to say, it feels really nice to have you saying all these things about me. No one's ever done that before."

Ryou lifted his hand and used one finger to brush back the locks of hair that framed Yugi's heart-shaped face. "Why aren't you pushing me away? I thought you didn't like me like that…"

Yugi's eyes fell closed. "I don't know if I do or I don't. But I know you're being honest, and…well, even I get lonely sometimes and just want someone to love me."

"How can you be lonely?" Bakura protested. "You have so many friends who care about you, and would sacrifice their lives for you."

Yugi opened his eyes slowly, lifting his gaze to meet Bakura's. It was the most beautiful, tender look Bakura had ever seen. "There's a kind of loneliness that even the best of friends can't fill."

Ryou held his gaze for a moment, and then nodded in understanding. His hands slid over the top of Yugi's, clasping them. "Then, you do understand me, more than I realized." He took a deep breath, his eyes wandering over Yugi's face and down his body, noticing every little favorite nuance of him – his slender chest peeking from the unbuttoned collar of his shirt, his small, graceful hands, his lips parted slightly in an expression of question and expectation. "Yugi," Ryou continued in a whisper, "I don't want to take advantage of you. You know how I feel about you. If you don't feel the same, I don't want you to give in to me just to make me happy."

Yugi answered in the same whisper. "I don't know how I feel. That's all I can give you. I just know that…I like the way it feels to be touched like this, and to hear someone say they love me. I don't want to take advantage of you either, Ryou. I don't want you to feel like I'm using you."

Bakura just remained sitting there, holding his hands, when something gave him a little start. That was the first time Yugi had ever called him by his first name. He squeezed the hands in his. "I won't think that," he pleaded. "You can use me if you want. I don't care. I just want to be close to you, even if it's only once. I want you to feel special…"

"Stop," Yugi breathed. "You don't have to try to please me. I still care about you. But…I can't promise you anything."

"I know. I've never expected anything from you." Bakura let go of his hands and touched Yugi's face instead, brushing his fingertips along his cheeks. "Even just a smile from you feels like an unexpected gift thrown my way. I won't take it for granted, and I won't ask anything of you that you're not willing to give."

Yugi stared up into gorgeous, liquid, brown eyes, seeing the light of desperate hope in them. _If it will make him happy, and I'll enjoy it too, then why shouldn't I?_ He clenched his hands nervously into fists in his lap. "Can we just…forget about the talking, so you can kiss me now?"

Ryou bit back the cry of surprise he wanted to give, settling for a delighted smile. Yugi's entire body showed his surrender, the way he sat forward, his face tilted up, his violet eyes wide and pleading, his fists in his lap. Ryou brushed a finger over Yugi's lips first, as if testing, and then swiftly leaned in to kiss him before the dream evaporated. The first kiss was short, sweet, a mere press of their lips against each other, but it turned out to be only a start. Yugi found himself leaning in closer, wanting more, his heart pounding in his chest with such force that he thought it was going to burst out of him. It felt so good, he had never imagined it being like this. Bakura kissed him softly, slowly, allowing long, sweet pauses for breath in which they could each feel the other's warmth and closeness. He placed his hands on Yugi's shoulders and pulled him just a little closer. Yugi let his hand wander onto Bakura's knee, bracing himself but also wanting simply to touch him in comfort. Ryou wanted only to please him, he didn't dare hope for more beyond this moment even if he made it so good that Yugi couldn't help but like it. As it was, Yugi kept up with him, never once breaking away or backing off. Their kisses gradually trailed off, until they both felt it right to open their eyes and sit back, gazing speechless at one another. Bakura's eyes clouded a little. "Is this…okay?" he murmured worriedly. "Do you want this?"

Yugi still stared for a moment, but eventually started to smile. "That was really nice," he whispered, lowering his eyes as a blush colored his cheeks. "I…I liked it."

Bakura looked relieved. "We don't have to stop, you know. Unless…you want to. I-I don't want to make you uncomfortable…"

"What do you mean?" Yugi's eyes couldn't look any more wide and innocent as he lifted them to Bakura's expectant face. "Ryo…I don't know…what I want anymore. I just know that felt really…good," he said lamely, "and maybe…you don't have to stop."

Sensing his nervousness, Ryou brushed his cheek with light fingertips. "You should relax," he said with a little chuckle. "I know it feels strange, we're both boys. I feel that too. But right now I don't much care about that. When you love someone, it doesn't matter."

He leaned in for another kiss, not giving Yugi much choice in the matter. Caught off guard, Yugi found himself being gently pushed back against the couch as their lips met again, and settled back to just enjoy it. Ryou was a splendid kisser, after all, and the curious connection they shared thanks to their related destinies gave Yugi a reason to let him be so close. He did care for Bakura, though "love" was a bit too strong of a word to be throwing around so soon. It probably wouldn't go any further than tonight, but for tonight, he would throw caution to the wind and have a good time. At least someone wanted him enough to kiss him so wonderfully…someone who actually had a physical form to kiss and touch…

Bakura practically curled up in Yugi's lap as they continued to kiss each other softly, leaning against the couch comfortably and beginning to slip their arms around each other. Bakura's hand glided across Yugi's chest, eliciting a gasp and soft sigh from him. He threaded a hand through Bakura's silky hair, unconsciously clenching it into a fist as Bakura kissed him more deeply, his tongue cautiously intruding into Yugi's waiting mouth. Yugi gave a small moan under his breath at the feeling, falling into complete surrender. His mind had completely detached from the moment, he didn't care that it was Bakura kissing him like that, he didn't care about anything except not being too clumsy as he tried to reciprocate. He had never done anything like this before, but a certain amount of instinct kicked in to ensure that he loved every minute of it. He was making out – making out with someone he kind of cared about, no less. It was a banner day!

As they continued with no signs of wanting to stop, Bakura's hand slowly traveled downward from Yugi's chest, gently pushing aside the chain bearing the Millennium Puzzle, until it came to rest just below his waist. Feeling his hand there, dangerously close to an intimate touch, Yugi started with a gasp that broke the kiss. "Bakura!" he hissed, staring wide-eyed into the face just inches from his.

"Shh," Ryou implored, brushing his lips across Yugi's cheek. "It's all right. Let me do this for you, please?" He buried his face in Yugi's neck, refusing to stop kissing him while his hand drifted lower, caressing the slinky fabric of Yugi's black pants. "I just want you…to be happy…" he whispered between kisses.

Terrified, Yugi clamped down on the hand touching him, forcing it to stop. "No," he breathed. "I…can't."

Bakura finally lifted his head, his brown eyes soft and pleading. "Why not?"

Looking into those eyes, it was hard for Yugi to think of an honest answer. He hadn't even removed the hand on him, only trapped it there. "I…I'm scared," he managed to say at last.

"You don't have to be," Ryou murmured, reclining against him and gazing submissively up into his face. "I won't hurt you. I just wish to touch you. Please, Yugi, let me do this for you…let me take care of you…"

Yugi stared into those begging eyes for a while, gradually easing up his grip and freeing Bakura's hand. He couldn't speak, he could only sit there and accept whatever might happen next, trying not to think about it lest he become afraid again and tear himself out of Bakura's arms. Bakura just looked so hopeful, so fragile, he didn't want to cause him further pain just because he was a little hesitant. Taking his freedom to move as permission to continue, Ryou stretched up to kiss Yugi again, trying to keep him distracted while he slid that hand between his legs, swallowing the startled whimper he received in response.

Though their minds were not connected at the moment, Yami was not absent from the scene. He had silently observed everything that had happened throughout the day, watching for signs of trouble from his young charge's companion, and now found himself a reluctant voyeur to Yugi's first encounter. The pharaoh's spirit stood by, torn between interrupting and letting it be, knowing that some things were not for him to interfere with no matter how much his heart cried out for him to do so. Even as Yugi allowed Bakura to work his pants open, and gave no protest as a hand slid inside and touched him, Yami struggled not to cry out his name, unsure Yugi would even pay attention now. He kept telling himself that the boy was forgetting how dangerous Bakura could be, that he needed to step in lest something tragic happen, but he couldn't make himself do it. If he had an actual heart, it would have been pounding in his chest with fear at the moment, or perhaps anger. But why? Bakura had been perfectly innocent all day, and even now Yami could see from his vantage point that the white-haired young man only had Yugi's pleasure in mind – Yugi's best interests – out of some desperate need to win his love. And teenage boys had hormones that needed to be indulged, it was true. Some part of his ancient, sagacious mind knew he was jealous, plain and simple, but Yami would not admit it. Instead, he finally convinced himself that Yugi needed privacy and turned away, doing his best to close off the connection so as not to feel what Yugi was feeling. He kept only a tiny spark alive, in case the wicked thief of the Ring decided to take advantage of Yugi's helplessness in the prime of passion and he needed to rush to the rescue, but Yami shut himself down otherwise, not wanting to think that someone else was getting to experience what he could never have. All he could do was find some quiet, dark corner in the recesses of the Millennium Puzzle's labyrinth and wait, knowing that it would be over soon and Yugi would probably need him to talk to about his confusions and uncertainties. Yami would never mislead him, he would answer his young friend's questions honestly and advise him as best he could, but he dreaded the lingering effects of the feeling that burned now in his spirit while he waited. He could protect Yugi against the forces of darkness, against the shadow realm, against those who would try to destroy him to get at the pharaoh, but he could not protect him against the pain of life, against heartbreak and wrong choices, against tough relationship situations. Yami had to let it happen, so Yugi could learn for himself without the spirit's interference – and yet, as he sat in the darkness, Yami wished that it did not have to be so.

**Author's Note:**

**I figured I'd give a treat and go ahead and post the second chapter today. :)**

**Locondra**


	3. Part 3- Failure

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.**

Part 3

Failure

The warmth of the hand clasped in his quickened Yugi's heart as they darted behind the picnic shelter and into the clandestine shade of trees, nervously giggling under their breath as they snuck away from the group. No one would notice they were gone, and they could just explain it away later as taking a walk or something. He didn't even know why he was agreeing to do it, but something about Bakura's earnestness and fragility was just so appealing, he didn't want to say no. Stealing kisses behind the park shelter with friends and classmates not far away was exciting and tantalizing, perhaps in part because it _was_ Bakura and no one else. Bakura, who loved him, against his better judgment. Yugi hadn't had to think too long before agreeing to slip away for a few minutes of privacy, remembering just how deliciously sweet Bakura's kisses could be and suddenly wanting them even though they'd tentatively decided not to pursue a further relationship. It was just a fling, a moment of escape for them. Both boys were breathing heavily already as they came to a stop behind the building, hidden by low-hanging tree branches and a good solid wall, and turned to face each other. Bakura wrapped his companion in his arms and leaned in to kiss him without preface, finding Yugi a ready and willing partner. He gave a breathy moan as Bakura's lips met his, and fell right into step with him, hungry for that taste on his tongue. The Puzzle jingled a bit on its chain as they pressed closer together, tangling their arms, never breaking off the kiss for a moment even as Bakura pushed Yugi back into the wall and cupped one hand along his cheek to tilt his face up. Yugi threw his arms over Bakura's shoulders and pulled himself closer, letting their chests touch as much as he could with the Puzzle in the way. The sensation drove them both wild, fueling their kisses with a reckless abandon. At each pause for breath, Bakura could be heard whispering, "Yugi…Yugi…"

The hand on Yugi's cheek traveled lower, catching on the thick leather collar around his neck. Yugi purred softly with their lips still pressed together, leaning into the touch. It all felt so good, he didn't want to stop. They couldn't go too far, not here, not now, but the more they kissed, the more Yugi wanted to stay there in the shady secrecy letting Bakura make out with him. Bakura slowed down, bestowing bunches of tiny, tender kisses on Yugi's lips, his fingers tracing along the line of Yugi's neck above the collar. He suddenly broke off, and Yugi opened his eyes to find dark, dark eyes gazing down at him, in a hesitating expression. "Bakura?" Yugi wondered, letting his hands rest comfortingly behind Bakura's neck.

Ryou smiled wanly. "You're so very good to me, Yugi," he quietly commented before leaning in to resume his kisses, taking a deep breath and letting it whisper over Yugi's mouth.

Yugi closed his eyes to receive it, holding himself back in patient yearning while Bakura paused again. The hand on his neck suddenly tightened, a couple of fingers intruding beneath the edge of the collar and tugging at it. Yugi gasped a little, still able to feel Bakura's face just inches from his and wondering what he was waiting for. "Ryou," he managed to moan, beginning to open his eyes, "you're hurting me…"

The fingers in his collar twisted, pressing dangerously on his throat. Yugi looked wildly up to see that something had gone wrong. Bakura seemed to have changed, the smile disappearing from his face, his eyes glaring down…those eyes. Those wrong eyes. It wasn't Ryou holding him now. Just as he realized it, the grasping spirit spoke in an angry rasp. "So. This is what that little brat has been hiding from me all this time."

Yugi immediately tried to pull away, to no avail. He was trapped in the arms of the spirit of the Millennium Ring, with one hand threatening to choke him. He stared up, wild-eyed and desperate. "No!" he whimpered. "It's not…it's not like…"

The fingers pressed on his throat, cutting off his pleas. The spirit leered down at him, baring his teeth like fangs. "Oh yes it is," he purred savagely. "I knew he was hiding something, he didn't want me to find out that he's been…" The hand on Yugi's throat let go, and instead dove down and groped between his legs. Yugi let out a cry and threw himself back against the wall, trying to break free. The spirit only pushed further against him and pinned him to the wall, grabbing his chin and roughly forcing his face back up, grinning as he descended to kiss the boy trapped beneath him. Yugi braced his hands against Bakura's chest, but couldn't fight off the stronger spirit. "Come now," the thief growled. "There must be some reason he wants you, little Yugi. I wonder how you taste…"

Bakura chuckled darkly as he felt the small fists pounding against him, trying to make him stop, and then lunged in for what would certainly have been a slavering kiss, but there was a flash of light and a strong hand suddenly pressed flat against his face and held him off. He looked down to find severe eyes glaring up at him, the deadly gaze of the pharaoh himself. In a very low, threatening voice, Yami seethed, "Take your hands off me."

The Ring spirit was so startled that he failed to fight back, but he also did not comply with the demand fast enough. Yami shoved him hard, straightening himself up to his full height as he did. Bakura stumbled backwards, losing his grip on Yugi. At last, the two spirits were able to stand facing each other, mysterious eyes glowering across at each other, fists clenched at their sides. Bakura's shirt had fallen open, revealing the Millennium Ring resting against his chest beneath. The thieving spirit caught his breath and laughed mockingly. "Came out to protect your young charge, did you, pharaoh?"

"I will not let you take advantage of Yugi," Yami snarled. "It's bad enough what you do to Ryou Bakura."

"Did you know about these two?" Bakura wondered airily, tracing a finger down his own throat. "These…_boys_…? Sneaking off to do naughty things to each other?"

"You shouldn't speak of things you know nothing about," Yami snapped.

The thief dared to grin, and stepped closer, making a slow circuit around Yami, who only stood there rigidly with his fists tensed. "What, did they let you watch?" he taunted, reaching out to trail a finger across Yugi's arm. "Shame on you, pharaoh. I thought you had more honor than that…"

It happened so fast neither of them could see it, but the spirit of the Ring ended up on the ground flat on his back, his jaw stinging from the blow Yami had dealt him. "I said don't touch me," the pharaoh murmured, shaking his hand out.

Bakura sat up, laughing wickedly again. "Touchy. I can see there is more to this than it appears." He pushed himself to his feet. "That you would be willing to strike me, even though it is Bakura's body you strike and not me."

"I know Bakura well enough to know that he would accept any pain he has to suffer on your behalf, if it means you'll shut up and leave him alone," Yami threatened. "You are not wanted here. Leave. Let Bakura be."

"The day you stop interfering with Yugi Muto is the day I leave this vessel," the thief spat. "It serves me well enough. And now, I find out that he has…feelings. He loves you."

"You're disgusting," the pharaoh muttered. "You would use that boy's love against him, just to get at me? It won't work." A slight smile of triumph crossed his lips. "Bakura has always expected this. He would rather live his life alone than endanger Yugi, and he will do so."

The wicked spirit's eyes narrowed, but he kept a cocky smirk. "If you say so. I will have to be the judge of that."

Yami took a couple of steps forward and grabbed Bakura's shirt collar in a fist, hauling him up until they stood nose-to-nose. The spirit actually looked worried at the vicious glare he was receiving. "Leave Bakura alone," Yami warned. "Or I will make you leave him."

"You don't have the ability," the thief countered.

The Eye of the Puzzle flashed, and a corresponding mystical Eye flickered on Yugi's forehead. "You may be in control of Bakura," he said darkly, "but my power is greater than yours. Let him go, _now_."

The spirit of the Ring growled under his breath. "You should worry about what I'm going to do to Ryou Bakura now that I know his secret. Neither of you are safe any longer." But it was simply a parting threat, for the body in Yami's grip slumped senseless, his head drooping and eyes closing as the Ring's inhabitant receded and allowed Ryou to return to awareness. It only took a moment, and Ryou blinked his eyes open, astonished to find himself being manhandled by Yugi. "What…? Yugi!" he whispered in alarm.

Hearing the change in his voice and seeing his softer, sadder eyes, Yami let go of Bakura's shirt, letting him regain his feet. "I'm sorry, Bakura," he quickly said as comfortingly as he could, considering the anger and worry still prickling in his mind.

Bakura brushed off his shirt, eyeing his companion warily for a moment until he could see it. The straighter, more confident bearing, the sleeker eyes, the deeper voice. "You…you're the pharaoh's spirit," he realized. "What happened to Yugi? I remember…" A thought struck him. He had been over there, against the wall, kissing Yugi, and then a blank space in his mind where an explanation of how they got over here should have been. His heart sank, and he looked up to Yami with anxious eyes. "It was him, wasn't it? The spirit of the Millennium Ring."

"You don't remember what happened?" Yami wondered with some concern.

Bakura shook his head, trying to fight the tears springing to his eyes. "I can never remember what he does when he controls me. I simply black out. I was afraid he was going to come out, I couldn't stop him. I didn't want him to know!" He lost the fight, and bowed his head quickly to hide his emotions from the pharaoh's spirit.

Yami stepped forward and gently placed his hands on Bakura's shoulders. "He didn't hurt me," he said softly. "I wouldn't let him do anything to Yugi. Or to you. Forgive me, but I had to hit him."

Ryou absently rubbed his cheek. "So that's why it hurts," he whimpered. "It's…it's all right. If you had to, I accept that. You can do anything to my body when he's in control, I don't care."

"Bakura…" Yami sighed, finding it suddenly difficult to say what he had to say. "He knows, now. About your feelings for Yugi." Bakura only broke down further, the tears streaming down his cheeks. Yami felt a sudden rush of deep pity for him, a feeling independent of anything Yugi himself felt as he watched the scene from inside. "Your love for him is a beautiful and powerful thing, but right now, it can be used against you, and I don't want that. And, I must think about Yugi's protection, in addition to my own. I don't want to do this, but I must."

"We can't see each other anymore." Bakura's weak voice trembled, but he said it with certainty. "I'm putting you in danger. That isn't what I wanted at all, I wanted you to…" A sob cut him off, destroying the rest of his comment.

_Please, Yami!_ the younger voice inside his mind cried. _Let me take care of this! Thank you for saving me, but Bakura needs me right now_.

Yami closed his eyes, but agreed, and with a flash of the Puzzle's Eye, Yugi had regained dominance. He immediately threw his arms around Bakura and hugged him tightly, stroking his hair. Ryou buried his face into Yugi's shoulder as he sobbed uncontrollably, clutching desperately at his shirt. "It's okay," Yugi whispered soothingly. "It'll be okay, Ryou. I still care about you. I just don't want you to suffer because of me."

"That can't be helped now," Bakura whispered back. "Either way, I will suffer. But I don't want you to be in danger. I swear, Yugi. I will stay away from you, to protect you."

Yugi gave him an extra squeeze as he continued to hold him. "Yami protected me today. He always does. But…maybe he's right. I have to protect him, too." He sighed sadly. "You're so sweet, Ryou. I wish it didn't have to be this way."

Ryou lifted his head, and blinked in surprise at the tears pooling in Yugi's violet eyes. "You…do care," he said softly. "You weren't just using me after all."

Yugi shook his head, raising one hand to brush away his tears before they could fall. "I meant it. I care about you a lot. To have to do this to you is breaking my heart. But I know it's for the best. At least, for now." His gaze hardened, his voice shaking with emotion. "Someday, we'll find a way to set you free. Yami is the only one who can stand up to that thief, and someday he'll finish what he started five thousand years ago. Then you'll be safe. I promise!"

Bakura clung to him, resting their foreheads together as he fought to regain some semblance of composure. "Don't make promises you can't keep, Yugi. As long as you try. That will be enough."

Yugi closed his eyes and sighed, accepting the close comfort. "Are you going to be all right?" he whispered into the space between them.

"Not for a while," Ryou whispered back. "But there's nothing you can do to change that."

Yugi reached out to him, brushing a hand across his cheek and stretching up for one last kiss. Bakura did not push him away, sharing a sweet, tearful kiss that lingered for a long time. "Why don't you slip away and go home?" Yugi suggested kindly. "I'll tell the others you weren't feeling well or something. They don't have to know. Okay?"

Bakura nodded, lifting his head and simply gazing into Yugi's eyes for a long, silent moment before turning away and walking through the trees, afraid to look back. Yugi watched him go, hugging his arms around himself, a tear running down his face. He, too, was alone now, except for Yami – and Yami did not return his affection, as far as he knew. But after that brush with danger, a long overdue talk between the minds that shared his vessel needed to happen. As Yugi turned away and came out from behind the picnic shelter, thinking up excuses to explain why Bakura had left early, he planned one for himself also. He needed to go home.


	4. Part 4- Thief in the Temple

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.**

Part 4

Thief in the Temple

Walking through the halls at school, anyone could hear snatches of a million different conversations all at once, wildly ranging from innocent to explicit, from grades and homework to crime and sex. Bakura usually kept his head down and ignored most of the chatter as he went, not really wanting to hear the bullies planning to shoplift manga or the popular kids bragging about bedding their classmates, but one voice coming from one homeroom caught his attention. That voice always caught his attention, though not always for the same reasons. He paused and shyly poked his head into the doorway, inexplicably drawn to see the speaker but not wanting to be seen in turn – not after all they had been through. Yugi was sitting backwards on a chair with his back to the door, talking brightly with Joey and Tristan while the former shuffled through his Duel Monsters deck. "Hey, I have to buy my cards just like everyone else," the spiky-haired boy was laughing.

"At a discount," Joey sullenly reminded him. "Some of us aren't so lucky, Yug."

"And who just _gives_ you some of your best cards? Hmm?"

Joey scowled comically, making both Yugi and Tristan laugh. "All right, all right," the blond youth conceded. "Maybe it's not so bad after all. But come on! All my toughest opponents know my deck almost as well as I do now. I need some new cards!"

"I don't know what you're so worried about, Joey," Yugi casually shrugged. "I don't plan on switching my deck around again, not unless I come across an absolutely awesome card. Mine's fine the way it is for now. There's no tournaments coming up that I know of, anyway."

Bakura watched them for a moment or two, and then turned in the doorway to continue on his way. _They're only talking about Duel Monsters. Nothing important_.

"That's not such a bad thing," Tristan said warningly. "Every time you get dragged into a tournament, something bad happens to people's souls."

Yugi's voice dropped dramatically. "I know. But it's not my fault, or Yami's. It's what happens when people are trying to get at him, and take the Puzzle."

Bakura paused again, his back leaning against the door frame. This was a far more interesting subject to overhear.

"And now you've got even more to worry about," Joey reminded him, lowering his voice only slightly so as not to tip off the roomful of chattering teens in school uniform. "Not just the Puzzle, but the other Millennium Items too."

As those words sank into Bakura's mind, the parasitic spirit living inside him seeped into his consciousness and took over, leaving Ryou completely blank and unaware of what else transpired after that. The thieving spirit was the one interested in this conversation anyway, and huddled in the shadows to listen.

Yugi gently cradled the Puzzle in one hand, glancing down at the expressionless Eye on the front. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with them. Neither does Yami. If only we knew more about his past! I'm sure it has everything to do with him. For now, all we can do is keep them safe."

"Especially that Ring," Tristan said darkly. "Poor Bakura is better off without it."

The spirit behind the door scowled viciously. _Shows what you know, you pathetic moron_.

"Yeah, I won't forget that," Yugi sighed sadly. "Don't worry, I've got it safe. I don't want Bakura hurt by it anymore."

"And you don't want that creepy Ring spirit hurting you, either," Joey said with a hint of anger. "He got the Ring back once, there's no telling what he'd do if he could find a way to steal it back from you again."

"It's okay," Yugi assured his friends. "I'm not afraid of him. He's powerless, I have the Millennium Ring now. And I have Yami. He'll protect me. He always does." A warm note crept into his voice as he spoke of his companion spirit. "He wouldn't let anything happen to me."

The spirit controlling Bakura bristled where he stood, listening to the group of boys talking so casually and defiantly about his Ring, his power. Did they really think they could stand up to him? For a moment there, it looked like Yugi was about to let slip where he was keeping the Millennium Items safe, but the conversation had been diverted by talk of the pharaoh. "You know, lately it seems like you two are up to something," Joey was saying teasingly. "I always wonder if he's telling dirty jokes in your ear or something, you two could totally be having a conversation all your own and the rest of us would never know it. It's kinda freaky, Yug."

Yugi laughed softly. "It's not like that, Joey. Yes, sometimes he and I are talking to each other inside our minds, but only when it's important. Really."

"Then why are you blushing?" Tristan wondered.

Yugi gasped. "I am not!"

"So good to know you're putting that Puzzle of yours to good use," Joey said dryly.

The discussion became hopelessly mired in taunts and silliness then, driving Bakura to leave the boys and wander off, the dark spirit still firmly in control. As he walked down the corridor, his wicked eyes glared at the floor in front of him. _My Ring is still in the pharaoh's possession, and he doesn't even know what to do with it! How could this have happened to me?_ He growled under his breath. _My control over Bakura is incomplete. I must get my item back…and all the items the pharaoh now holds. If only little Yugi had told his friends where he's keeping them!_ He thought over the situation for a while, musing on the fragments of conversation he had just been privileged to, and a spark awoke in his memory. He had been able to save himself from complete annihilation in the shadow realm thanks to the portion of his spirit being guarded by the Millennium Puzzle itself. Perhaps it was time to make use of that small advantage, as it was doing him no other good at the moment. Grinning to himself, the thieving spirit quickly formed his plan and then receded from innocent Ryou, leaving him free to go about his business as if nothing had happened.

Yugi pushed open the ominous door that separated his mind from the realm of the Millennium Puzzle and smiled brilliantly at the sight of the pharaoh's spirit standing just inside with his hands in his pockets trying not to look like he was waiting. "Aww," the younger one commented, "aren't you sweet?"

Yami gave him a flustered look. "What?"

"You're waiting for me," Yugi teased.

The taller spirit blushed faintly, looking away. "And what if I am?" he asked softly.

Yugi stepped up to him and wrapped his arms around Yami from behind, hugging him. "It's nice."

Yami smiled peacefully, placing a hand over the ones clutched about his middle. "I can't help it. I like seeing you here with me. It makes this world of mine seem less dark."

"Then I'm glad I could find a few minutes to spare for you." Yugi let go of his partner and came around him, wanting to be held face-to-face instead. Yami seemed all too happy to oblige. "I do still have some homework to do tonight, but I thought I would take a break first and spend some time with you. It's been hard for me to get in here lately."

"I'm not upset," Yami assured him. "I know how important school is, I won't interfere with it or demand a moment of your time. Besides." He smirked down at the boy in his arms. "Joey was right. We can talk to each other all we want and no one else will ever know."

"Except you don't tell me dirty jokes," Yugi reminded him with a somewhat exasperated look. "Do you even know any?"

Yami's eyes widened in surprise. "Uh…"

Yugi grinned. "I didn't think so."

Yami recovered his composure and gave his young lover a sultry smile. "But I do know plenty of other things to say to you through our link that would make you blush."

Wide violet eyes stared at him. "You wouldn't!"

The pharaoh laughed. "Now that I have you here with me, I don't need to."

Yugi held his partner's hands and looked up at him with a knowing smile. "Ahh. I was kind of hoping you were thinking of that, too. Because I sure am."

"Ah. So you don't even want to talk with me first, you just want to go right to our special room," Yami murmured with feigned offense.

"You said it yourself – we can talk to each other anytime."

Yami smirked at the smartass look being given him and squeezed the hands in his. "True! You know me too well by now, Yugi." He began to step away, leading his companion along. "I suppose, if your time is short, we shouldn't waste it."

Yugi shyly allowed himself to be towed away from the door, into the labyrinth where the only stable room of the pharaoh's past hid in one of the shadowed corridors. "I think that's a great idea."

A third presence lurked inside the realm of the Puzzle, one that didn't belong there and had managed to exist for some time completely undetected. A fragment of the Ring spirit, embodied inside the visual representation of the labyrinth as a darker, vicious version of young Bakura, had been awakened from its dormancy when Yugi passed close enough by Ryou earlier in the day. Its intent had originally been to explore the pharaoh's secrets without his knowing, but the Puzzle's world had proven far too difficult to navigate. Any intruder would have been detected if it exerted too much effort braving the mental traps and protective barriers around the knowledge hidden even from the pharaoh himself. But now, the spirit had a purpose of a different sort, and found himself able to hunt through darkened passages without being noticed. From a stairwell tilted far above their heads, he had seen Yugi enter and hold a brief conversation with the ancient spirit of the Puzzle, though now the intruder was having a more difficult time finding a way down from his bizarre position to track them and see where they had gone. It intrigued him that the young one should be able, much less willing, to let his mind be ensnared in the Puzzle along with the pharaoh, but for now such a thing would remain purely a curiosity. The pharaoh was his true target, he figured Yami must know the current whereabouts of the Millennium Items. It was his responsibility to guard and wield them now, without the original bearers or the tombkeepers available to keep them safe. The spirit of the Ring cursed Marik and all the members of the Ishtar family, past, present, and future, as he pushed through a doorway only to find himself doubled back to where he had started from. _If not for their meddling, and the pharaoh's ability to free them from the dark curse that drove Marik, I would be in possession of the Rod and the Necklace now. No matter_. He retraced his steps and chose a different path, somewhat satisfied when it took him closer to the wide platform where he had last seen the identical pair of spirits. _I will capture them when I regain my Ring, and then I will be the holder of the majority. The pharaoh will tell me where he's keeping the Items, whether he wants to or not_.

Stealing silently down a staircase that appeared to only go up, the thief found himself turning the corner into a passage lit by torches, surmising that this had been the way Yugi and Yami had last been going when he lost sight of them. He had wasted a good bit of time trying to find his way around, but if the two of them were also hunting something in the labyrinth, they could not have gotten far ahead. His intention was to pursue them, to observe and divine the Items' location without having to confront the pharaoh if at all possible. Here in this realm of the mind, Yami had the upper hand, and would never allow anyone to bully his secrets out of him. Certainly not if Yugi was near; the Ring spirit knew how protective the pharaoh was of his companion, having faced him directly before and seen with his own eyes the swift and merciless reaction to any slight threat posed to Yugi. The intruder determined it best to wait until Yugi's spirit had vacated the Puzzle before even considering a less passive means of getting the information he wanted out of the pharaoh. Meanwhile, so long as he could find them, he would gladly hide in the darkness and listen to their conversations, sure that sooner or later, they would have need to discuss the Millennium Items. If it meant shadowing Yami for days waiting for the opportunity, so be it. His spirit could work on the outside as well to give Yugi a reason to come running to Yami. It was all one big game, and he was the one making the rules.

Black doorways led away from the corridor in all directions, but the line of torches set in brackets along the straight wall intrigued the Ring spirit. It was unlike any other portion of the Puzzle's world he had seen, giving off an air of occupation and familiarity. Toward the end, a wide archway stood to designate a room beyond, a room from which indeterminate sounds were coming. The spirit paused, narrowing his gaze suspiciously. Far from wandering around the Puzzle, the pharaoh and his host had come here for some reason. Some private place to hold conference, the thief surmised. He crept along the corridor with his back to the wall, sneaking as close as he dared to the archway and crouching down to listen. For a while the murmurs were too quiet to discern, but then Yugi's voice raised suddenly, crying out the pharaoh's assumed name. Bakura's eyes went wide in surprise. What were they doing in there? Tempted to look, he simply settled for tilting his head just right until his ear could catch even the softest of whispers echoing from the stony walls. Yugi's gasping whimpers became obvious, along with Yami's purrs of gentle encouragement. Realization slowly crept across the thief's angular face; of all the things he could have imagined the companion spirits doing while facing each other inside the Puzzle, this was the furthest from his mind. The unmistakable sounds of pleasure left Bakura paralyzed with shock for a few moments, torn between a morbid fascination and utter disgust at the scene of devoted love taking place. He finally shook himself out of his stupor and crept stealthily along the wall, retreating as fast as he could without making any noise – not that the two in the secret room would have heard him. Once safely well beyond the torch-lit corridor, he found an alcove in which to hide and clutched his head in his hands, trying to forget what he had just overheard. _Damn those two! I don't believe they were actually…gahh!_ The thieving spirit shook his head violently. _How? When did they get so close…?_

As he crouched there thinking, the spirit found himself digesting this new piece of information and fitting it into his plans as usual. No wonder the pharaoh was so protective of little Yugi, if they had become lovers. It explained much. It also meant the pharaoh would be next to impossible to confront for information on the Millennium Items. He would be ten times more alert for danger and a thousand times more dangerous to face if he felt the slightest need to guard the young one from threat. Then again, perhaps that could be used against him. Bakura gradually stopped being repulsed by having eavesdropped on the lovemaking and sat in wicked contemplation, formulating ways to turn this development to his advantage. After all, he knew the best ways to use fools' love and desire to manipulate them and make them dance to his tune. If the pharaoh was too powerful to overcome, perhaps Yugi would make a better target. The thief grinned savagely to himself. _Yes. The young one is vulnerable. I just have to get him away from the pharaoh long enough to force this information out of him. Then, I will finally have my Ring back!_

Curled up in each other's arms in the bliss of afterglow, Yugi and Yami noticed nothing of a foreign presence in the Puzzle's world. Yugi luxuriated in the softness of the linen sheets wrapped around them as he laid back and submitted to his lover's gentle kisses trailing along his neck and behind his ear. "I'm so glad I decided to visit," he sighed happily. "I needed that more than I realized."

"Then, I'm glad I pleased you," Yami murmured, gliding his hand over the young one's pale skin. "If only I could keep you here all night."

"Oh, I wish I could," Yugi moaned. "But I have stuff to do. I'll stay here for a little while, though." He smiled up at the mature face above him. "We can talk."

The pharaoh chuckled. "I see, _now_ you want to talk."

"We don't have to. I'm not picky." Yugi snuggled into his partner's arms, resting his head against his shoulder. "I just want to be with you, here in this place where we can feel each other. Where you're more than just a phantom voice in my mind."

"Yes, I know what you mean," Yami intoned in his deeper voice. "Still, I won't take that for granted. Being able to see the world through your eyes and thoughts is valuable to me."

The younger one gave his elder companion a wry smirk. "What, are you just using me to watch for signs of shadow games?"

Yami squeezed him tightly. "Not just that, no. But that is very important."

"I know, I know. I like that you're there to protect me, in your own way." Yugi nuzzled his lover's cheek. "You don't know any more than I do about protecting myself with my fists, but I have to admit, I feel very safe with you inside me. All things considered," he added with a grin.

The pharaoh nodded. "My enemies can't be fought with fists anyway. I suppose, if we ever had need of that, we have Joey and Tristan."

"Yeah, we do," Yugi laughed. "That's what friends are for! We each have our skills, and we all work together. Right?"

"Right."

There didn't seem to be much else to say, so within moments they had returned to kissing each other relentlessly, content for the companionship over the conversation. Before he had to leave for reality, Yugi promised not to neglect his relationship with Yami and come back soon, often. "So much of our time together is spent worrying about the Puzzle, your past, Duel Monsters, and all that," he lamented as he threw his clothes back on, not that he needed to, "I'd like it much better if all we had to worry about was…this."

Yami had nowhere to go, so he remained reclining in the elegant bed, his naked body stretched languidly under the white sheets as he watched his young love. "It would be nice, but unfortunately, that's what I exist for. Being able to be so close to you is an unexpected but precious gift, Yugi. I never thought I would still be able to have this kind of love without a life of my own."

Yugi settled the Millennium Puzzle around his neck and then leaned over the bed, kissing Yami firmly on the lips. "Anything's possible when there's magic involved."

"True." Yami smiled warmly. "I'll be with you when you wake, so I don't need to say good night."

"Okay, but no distracting me," Yugi joked. "We'll do this again soon, I promise."

There was no way for the spirit inside Bakura to find out when and if Yugi would be visiting his lover inside their mental playground anytime soon, not without revealing that he knew of their relationship nor how that information came to him. He observed the spiky-haired boy from his vantage point in a corner of Bakura's mind, wondering almost constantly whether the two spirits were communicating, particularly when he caught Yugi daydreaming or staring off in a direction other than where his friends were. All the thief could do was wait and watch, positioning himself inside the Puzzle in a place where he could see the divide between the minds, trying to discern any kind of pattern to the visits. After at least a week of spying, he guessed enough to be able to put his plans into motion. Time was beginning to be of the essence; the longer the Ring was kept from Ryou, the more the connection between them would fade until the wicked spirit would no longer be able to control him at all. While his host spent his evening doing homework and preparing for a test, the spirit of the Ring extended his reach to the fragment of his soul inside the Puzzle and bid it execute the plan.

Whether he was hungry for companionship or just bored, Yugi found himself rushing through his schoolwork and chores in order to find the time to relax with Yami, closing himself away in his room and sprawling out on his bed with the Puzzle on his chest. Before he could descend into a trance, though, his grandfather knocked on the door and intruded to ask him one more thing.

Inside the spiritual labyrinth, Yami made his way to the doorway through which Yugi would enter, trying not to hurry though he was eager to see his lover. As he approached, however, he noticed the big, imposing door with the Eye on its outer surface standing slightly ajar. _Is he already here?_ "Yugi?" the pharaoh chanced, but his voice merely echoed in the stillness. He glanced around, his eyes hunting the shadowy passages stretching in all directions, in case the boy had come in looking for him. "Yugi? Are you here?" Then, he saw it – a spark of blue, the color of Yugi's school uniform, vanishing into the dark recesses of the labyrinth. Yami started after him, a smile beginning to awaken on his face. It seemed the young one simply hadn't heard him coming and was off looking for him in the wrong direction.

Within moments of the pharaoh's apparition leaving, Yugi pushed the steel door open the rest of the way, peeking inside the Puzzle. _The door's open, that means he's expecting me…but where is he?_ "Yami?" he called out. No answer came back to him. "That's strange," Yugi said aloud. "Where could he have gone? Yami! Hello?"

He held his breath to listen for a response, but there was nothing. At least, until just as he was about to call again; then, the scrape of a foot on stone caught his attention. Without thinking, Yugi left the familiar entryway and chased after it, expecting to run smack into the pharaoh. Instead, he jogged up a dark corridor and kept going, thinking he could hear someone just ahead of him but never catching sight of them. Afraid that Yami was in turn looking for him and simply a few steps beyond his reach, Yugi kept searching, heading deeper into the world of the Puzzle.

As he passed through uncounted corridors and down staircases, Yami doggedly kept his eyes on the hint of color and movement that managed to stay just out of his reach, perplexed over why Yugi would not hear him calling and stop. It never occurred to him that the vision could be anything else, for to his knowledge only he and those he permitted could access the Puzzle's magical realm. Still, the figure continuing to drift just out of sight demanded he follow, for he was certain that sooner or later he would catch up. His legs were longer than Yugi's, he could outrun him in dire need. He stopped calling to the boy and simply pushed himself to overtake him, becoming somewhat frustrated that the distance between them never got smaller.

Yugi wandered absently through the twisted maze, confused and slightly concerned that he couldn't find the Puzzle's inhabitant. Yami should have been there waiting for him, where could he have gone? _He's in here somewhere, but this place is so huge and crazy, I could wander forever and not find him! Maybe I should just go back to the door, at least I know that place well enough_. Yugi frowned at the stairwell rising above his head. _If I could just remember how to get back there_.

He ducked through doors and under arches and tried to retrace his steps back to the entry, but the constantly shifting labyrinth shrouded in darkness bewildered him and led him only further into places he had never been before. Once in a while he called out, but no one answered. Annoyed and anxious, he tried to quicken his pace, but a turn of a corner and he realized he was hopelessly lost. Yugi stopped there, in a narrow, angled corridor surrounded on all sides by stone structures and steps, and decided it was better to just stay in once place and hope that Yami knew how to find him. That the pharaoh's spirit seemed to be nowhere in reach alarmed him greatly, but since there was no way to remove him completely from the Puzzle barring a complex, ritualistic loss in a duel and subsequent magic ceremony, Yugi knew he had to be around and willed himself to be patient and wait to be found. He backed against a wall, reaching out a hand to brace himself, but suddenly thought he heard a step that wasn't his. "Yami?" he breathed into the shadows, turning to look.

"No," a voice rasped, "but I am the darkness you should fear."

A figure materialized from beneath a staircase, but a second too late Yugi saw that it was not the spirit he expected to see. The flash of evil eyes and glint of a wicked leer made him gasp. "No! It's you! What are you doing here?"

The white-haired spirit chuckled savagely. "There you are, little Yugi. Lost something, have we?"

Yugi found his back against a sheer wall as the spirit of the Millennium Ring, masquerading in a twisted form of his friend Bakura, advanced on him with clenched fists. "How did you get in here?" he squeaked. "This is Yami's territory! You don't belong here!"

"And yet, here I am," the thief taunted. "It's not for you to figure out how I got here. You should be more concerned about what I'm going to do with you." He was close enough to touch, now, and shot out a hand to grab Yugi's arm.

Yugi tried to pull away, but the bigger spirit blocked him, pulling him back around. "No, no!" the boy yelped, struggling violently. "Let me go!"

Bakura backhanded him, dazing him. "Stop that!" he snarled. "You're going to do exactly as I say, or you'll find yourself worse off than just lost inside the Millennium Puzzle."

Yugi shook off the dizzy feeling, his anger rising along with his panic. "I'm not going to do anything you want," he said defiantly. "If I just wake up, I'll disappear from here and…"

"You're not going to," the spirit said with a particularly nasty grin. "I have you trapped, lured deep into the Puzzle where you can't escape. Now." He grabbed Yugi's shirt in both fists and hauled him up close. "Tell me what you've done with the Millennium Ring. Where are you keeping it? I must have it back, along with the rest of the Millennium Items!"

The young man glared darkly at Bakura. "I'll never tell you!" he shouted. "They belong to Yami now, and neither of us will ever let you have your power back!"

Bakura glared right back as he backhanded Yugi once again. "Tell me, or I'll force it out of you! You're weaker than the pharaoh, you'll tell me what he knows of the Items!"

Yugi shook his head and only growled. "No way! I won't do anything to betray him. He's coming to find me, so you better watch out." He closed his eyes and raised his voice. "Yami! Help me!"

Snarling, Bakura drew back a fist and punched the boy with all his might, knocking him to the floor. Yugi lay there in a daze, unable to fight back as the wicked spirit landed on top of him and pinned him down, one hand on his throat. "Do that again and you'll regret it!" he threatened.

Yugi only filled his lungs and yelled at the top of his voice, "YAMI!" Bakura gritted his teeth and smacked Yugi hard once again, cutting him off.

Somewhere within the tangled corridors, Yami felt the voice cut through his very soul. _Yugi. He's in trouble_. "Yugi?" he called out. "Where are you?"

There was no answer, but the stirring in his spirit made the pharaoh extremely nervous. He looked around wildly, realizing he had been chasing after a phantom. Yugi was somewhere else within the Puzzle, but they had been led astray, as if by some force that wanted them apart. But how? Yami was the only resident of the Puzzle, he couldn't imagine his own powers or shadow magic being responsible for separating him from Yugi. But another mental scream turned his soul to ice. "I'm coming!" he yelled into the darkness as he began to run, forgetting about looking or listening in order to simply feel the young man's presence, hoping it would guide him. It was faint, but he felt fairly confident that he could follow it.

Bakura lifted Yugi up and slammed him back down against the stone floor, rattling him and bruising the back of his head. "Shut your mouth!" he demanded. "The pharaoh is not coming! I made sure of that myself. It's just you and me, now." He grinned evilly and grabbed Yugi's chin, forcing him to look up even though his gaze was unfocused. "It wasn't hard to lure the pharaoh away, once I realized what you came here for. How sad, that even in his spirit form, his lust overpowers his good sense."

Yugi gasped for breath, trying to fight the awful pain and dizziness swirling about his head. "Let me go," he weakly cried. "I won't tell you anything."

"Perhaps you simply need further persuading." The spirit of the Ring grabbed at Yugi's shirt again and tore it open, letting the Puzzle fall onto his bare skin with a jingle. Yugi only stared confusedly up at him, his head still ringing too much to understand what was going on. Bakura grabbed him roughly, then, pinning his shoulders to the stone as he bowed his head and licked in one long line from the boy's chest to his neck. Yugi cried out in panic, straining against the strong hands holding him down and writhing desperately against the body that had him trapped. "Is this what the pharaoh does to you?" Bakura's evil half purred, his panting breath hot on Yugi's neck. "Is this what you come here for?"

"No! No, let me go!" Yugi shrieked, struggling without any gain. "Yami! YAMI!" Bakura hit him again, making him bleed, but Yugi refused to be silenced as he fought as hard as he could. "YAMIIIIIII!"

This time, Yami was fairly certain he could actually hear the cry echoing from stone walls and corridors, but he cursed the confounding darkness of the labyrinth that twisted the sound and masked its true origin. He didn't stop running for a second, darting down path after path in search of his companion, but the echoing cry hurt him more than helped. He had to stop before pitching headlong over a blank cliff into nothingness, and only then tried to regain his senses. He had to focus on Yugi's spirit, let his inner mind connect to him and draw him to the young one. Closing his eyes, Yami took a deep breath and concentrated. There, that way! Yugi was closer than he expected. "YUGI!" he roared as he barreled off into the labyrinth once again.

Bakura held Yugi down with one arm in order to use the other to fend off his struggling, prying Yugi's legs apart with his knees. Yugi continued to scream for help, his cries becoming more fearful and primal as the dark spirit's hand groped down between his legs, grabbing him, molesting him. Having had enough of the noise, Bakura pounded a fist into his jaw, silencing him just long enough. He spread-eagled the boy on the floor and grabbed at his jeans, pulling them open and getting them halfway down his hips. Yugi regained his wits and breath and writhed furiously, trying to wrench himself free, but it was too late. Bakura used his whole body to hold Yugi down so he could do his worst, ignoring the resumed cries for Yami. "You won't tell me what I want to know?" he angrily seethed, his hand diving down again to grope Yugi, more violently this time. "I told you I would force it out of you. One way or another." He pushed Yugi's legs wide apart with his knees and reached under him, roughly inserting a finger into him.

Yugi threw back his head and screamed his loudest, actually sobbing now as he shrieked, "Yami! Help me! HELP! YAMI!" over and over again. He refused to believe that Yami was too far away, he knew his soulmate would come for him. He had to. The wicked spirit molested him savagely, taking a sick delight in the hands tearing at his long hair and open jacket in a desperate attempt to push him away. He only laughed harder as Yugi screamed and wept, knowing as he stared down at the fear in his victim's face that all he had to do was push him one step further, and all the pharaoh's secrets would be his. Removing his fingers, he clutched at his own pants, trying to work them open.

The blow came out of nowhere, a body plowing into him at breakneck speed and shoving him completely off of Yugi. The two figures tumbled head over heels across the floor into the wall, locked in struggle. Yugi felt the weight fly off of him and opened his eyes with a start, in time to see Yami tackle Bakura and send them both rolling. They wrestled for a few seconds, until Yami punched the wicked spirit hard enough to actually knock him back out of his grip. The thief scrambled to his feet and backed away, finding himself trapped against an inverted staircase with a murderous pharaoh staring him down. Yami pushed himself up to his full height, his breath coming in short, seething gasps. "You," he growled gutturally.

"Yami!" Yugi sobbed weakly, feeling on the verge of passing out as relief crowded his panicked mind.

Yami glanced down, a knife going through his heart as he saw Yugi sprawled there, half undressed, his face red and wet with tears, blood running from his cut lip. He had never felt such deadly rage course through him as he did when he turned his gaze back to the white-haired figure lurking in the shadows, wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. "What have you done to him?" Yami breathed, his voice shaking with the force of his anger.

"No more than you have, I'm sure," Bakura retorted, eyeing him tiger-like.

Yami let out an inarticulate yell and surged forward, reaching for the evil spirit. Bakura eluded him for a moment, but was tackled and thrown down again, rolling over to find the pharaoh pouncing on top of him, holding him by the shirt with one hand and punching him repeatedly with the other. "For everything you did to him, you will receive it back tenfold!" he shouted. "You heartless beast! What did you do? Who said you could come into my Puzzle and terrorize Yugi?"

Yugi had regained enough strength to pull his pants back up, and sat up a little, resting on one elbow. He stared in shock at the enraged pharaoh pummeling the thief. "Yami! No!" he whimpered. "Stop it!"

Yami stopped as though frozen, staring wild-eyed back over his shoulder at poor, ravaged Yugi. "What?"

"Don't stoop to his level!" Yugi pleaded, tears running down his face again. "I'm okay! Please!"

For a moment Yami did not move, one white-knuckled fist poised in the air. The dark spirit chuckled under his breath. "That's right," he seethed, "let it go. I knew you didn't have it in you, pharaoh."

Snarling, Yami unleashed the waiting punch and began to shake his adversary, letting his head pound against the floor until Bakura let out a pained gasp. Yugi choked back a sob as he watched. "Yami, please!" he cried. "Stop!"

"He hurt you!" Yami blazed, pausing briefly but keeping his hands poised to do more damage. Bakura's eyes rolled back unsteadily. "He deserves this and more for what he did to you!"

Yugi fairly screamed, "Stop it! You're scaring me!"

Though he trembled with the effort of resisting, Yami could not ignore his love's anguished plea. His heart went cold within him; was he really that frightening? He gave Bakura one last glare and picked him up off the floor, not letting go of his shirt. "I don't know how you got in here," he threatened, "but you do not belong here. You will leave, now!"

Bakura laughed recklessly. "Not if I can escape into the Puzzle! You can't even find yourself inside these passages, you will never find me." He pulled back, but Yami had him securely and flipped him around, throwing him face-first into the opposing wall with his arm twisted behind his back.

The pharaoh leaned over him, his voice dropping to a cold, deadly murmur that could have killed a weaker man. "If any shadow of your spirit lingers in this place, I will not merely banish you to the shadow realm. I will see to it your soul is tortured for eternity, the way you torture my friends and loved ones." The eye of the Puzzle around his neck began to glow, and the Mystic Eye flickered like golden flame on his forehead.

Panic rushed through the thief as he sensed the spark of energy rising behind him, threatening to banish him or worse, forcing him to sacrifice caution in order to escape. He gritted his teeth and flung his head backwards, smacking into Yami's face. The blow dazed them both but Yami more, leaving him reeling for a second. Not to be outdone, Bakura whipped around and threw a fist, but it was dodged and once again, he was being held by the lapels of his jacket. The two of them struggled for a moment, Bakura's hand closing on Yami's throat. Yugi saw it from where he lay and let out a whimper of fear, wishing he could jump up and save his partner from being hurt just as he was. The small noise struck Yami through the heart, making him look back for the briefest of moments. The thief seized his chance and shoved the pharaoh hard, freeing himself at last to bolt. By the time Yami had regained his feet and was ready to attack, the dark spirit had already fled, his footsteps no more than a faint echo racing away from them into the confused passageways of the Puzzle.

Yami stood there for a while, the fight draining out of him now that the attacker had escaped. He heard Yugi behind him shuffling and gasping, trying to pull himself back together after the vicious attack, and turned to him, his heart breaking. "Yugi…" he whispered, rushing to him and falling to his knees.

Yugi fell into his arms, sobbing once again, only in relief now. "You saved me," he cried. "Yami!"

"I failed you," Yami sighed brokenly. "I wasn't there for you. This shouldn't have happened!" He pulled Yugi back enough to look closely at him, at his face, his eyes. "What did he do to you? Did he…?"

"No," Yugi quickly answered. "You stopped him before he could. But he…he…" The tears ran freely. "…touched me, and…Yami, if you hadn't come for me…"

Yami clutched his love to him, desperate to comfort him. "Did he hurt you?" he managed to choke.

"Not much," Yugi responded. "He…he wanted me to tell him where the Millennium Items are. He wants his Ring back. He knew you're too strong for him so he waited until I came, and attacked me instead." He hugged Yami fiercely, as if trying to melt into him. "How did he get in here? He's never been before…"

"I don't know," Yami shuddered. "I don't understand at all. There has never been anyone else here, it is only me, and those I permit inside, like you. There is no way he could have gotten in here."

Yugi clung to him, burying his face in the pharaoh's neck. "Is he…gone for good?"

"I can't say. He is still inside the Puzzle, but there's no way to know if he will be foolish enough to try anything like this again." Yami held his young lover for a few moments longer, stroking his hair, and then cradled him in his arms. "Come, now. Let's go back to a safer place. I want you to lie down so I can make sure you're all right."

Yugi lifted his eyes to the solemn face looking over him. He wanted to stay in Yami's safe arms, but… "Shouldn't I just…wake up? He didn't touch me for real, this will only be a nightmare when I wake up."

"No," Yami implored, gathering Yugi in his arms and standing up with him, carrying him. "You need to quiet your mind first, and heal from it. If you leave now, the memory will stay with you and make it worse."

"Okay," Yugi murmured, willing to trust his wiser half's judgment. He laid his head on Yami's shoulder and held him tightly. "Where are we going?"

"We'll go to my room. It's a safe and inviting place," the pharaoh decided, starting off swiftly.

With such determination of will, it wasn't hard for Yami to find the special room alive in his memory where he and Yugi had spent so many wonderful nights, the palace of his past with the soft, beautiful bed. He carried Yugi over to it and laid him gently on top of the white linen covers, sitting down beside him and smoothing a hand through his unruly hair. Yugi had managed to button his pants back up, but his shirt was torn open, and there was no way to fix it. Yami leaned over him and gently wiped away the blood on his cheek and lip with his fingertips, checking him over for damage. Though they were inside the Puzzle and therefore only subconscious representations of their actual beings, they both were able to feel pain, to feel injured, and see their spiritual bodies change depending on what happened to them via their minds. Fortunately, the senses of taste and smell were the only ones unable to carry over, except in dim shadows of reality, so the taste of blood in Yugi's mouth was faint and only came to him because his memory held record of what that would taste like. He just laid back and let Yami take care of him, wrapping his arms around his bared torso to protect it. The pharaoh examined him with soft, careful caresses, assuring himself that nothing was broken. "He struck you," he noted worriedly as he brushed fingertips over the bruises on the boy's cheek.

"A couple of times," Yugi affirmed. "It's okay, though. It's not my real body. The blood isn't real."

"It's real enough for me," Yami said brokenly. "But, you're right. You'll heal just by forgetting about it. Were it your real body, I could never forgive myself for letting him do this to you."

"Stop that." Yugi grabbed for the hand on his cheek and squeezed it. "Yami, neither of us knew he was in here. There was nothing to make us think it was even possible for something evil to be lurking inside the Puzzle, or I would have been a lot more worried about you being in here alone."

A darkness clouded Yami's violet eyes. "All the same, I shouldn't have left you alone. This should not have happened." He choked on his words, and tears filled his eyes. "When I looked down and saw you there, like that, I…"

Yugi sat up and seized his hands. "It's okay! Yami, you have to let go of it too. I won't have you haunted by that memory!"

Yami closed his eyes, which made a tear slide down his face and drop onto his hand in Yugi's. "I have never felt that kind of pain before," he murmured. "It went straight through my heart like a knife."

"No wonder you got so mad," Yugi said softly. "I've never seen you like that, not even against your worst enemies in the shadow games."

The pharaoh wiped his eyes with his coat sleeve and took a deep breath, wanting to be the strong one for his partner to lean on. "May I never have cause to be that angry again. Had I had hands, and were that creature flesh, I would have torn him apart. But no. You were right, I can't be like that. I must be stronger." He clutched at Yugi's smaller hands again. "For you."

Yugi chanced a weary smile. "You're all I need, Yami. I'm safe with you."

"Yes. You are, now." Yami kissed him gently on the forehead and let go of him, allowing Yugi to lie back down. The pharaoh's spirit sidled closer to him and brushed back errant strands of Yugi's long bangs before reaching for the chain around his neck and gently removing it, setting the Puzzle beside him on the pillow. "You'll be all right. I just want you to rest, and stay here with me. I'm sure you find that a more comforting idea than escaping to reality just now."

"Kind of, yeah," Yugi admitted, blinking drowsily. "What happens if I fall asleep here?"

Yami threaded his fingers gracefully through Yugi's hair. "I can't say for sure, but if my understanding is correct, it would essentially be the same as falling into a deeper, dreamless sleep below the usual dreaming state. A healing sleep."

Yugi purred under his breath, liking the way the pharaoh was petting him. "I like the sound of that. I don't exactly wake up well-rested when you and I are together in here, you know."

Yami chuckled lightly. "Then why do you let me wear you out, love? You should say something."

"I like it when you wear me out," Yugi protested with a pout.

More chuckling. "All right, all right. But tonight, you're just going to sleep here. I will sit beside you, and watch over you." His voice and face softened with concern. "All right?"

Yugi clasped his hands on his stomach. "Okay. I don't think I could…do anything else tonight anyway. Not after that."

Yami resumed combing his fingers through Yugi's hair again, finding the gesture soothing to his own nerves as well. "I wouldn't even presume to ask. But if you want our relationship to not be damaged by this incident, you will have to trust me and let go of your fear, and let me touch you again eventually. I know he did some horrible things to you, and I don't want you to remember them every time you feel my hands on you."

"I know," Yugi sighed, closing his eyes. "And I still want to be intimate with you. I refuse to let that monster steal your love away from me by making me afraid to be touched."

"I'm glad." The pharaoh settled himself comfortably beside Yugi on the edge of the bed, kicking off his shoes and crossing one leg under the other to support him. He could still caress Yugi's hair, and did so without stopping. "I love you, Yugi. It would kill me if you were afraid of me."

Yugi breathed another soft sigh, opening his eyes a little. "I love you too, Yami, and I could never be afraid of you. Don't worry."

"You should sleep, now," Yami implored. "Regain your strength and calm your mind."

Yugi's eyes widened even more, glancing upward with worry. His voice dropped to a fearful whisper. "What if he comes back?"

"He won't," Yami vowed firmly. "If he dares to face me again, he risks me following through with my threat." He gave his younger half as courageous a look as he could. "I will be here, guarding you. No one will be able to touch you without going through me, first. I promise."

"Okay." Yugi snuggled into the blankets, wrapping his arms closer around him. "I just don't want you to be in danger, too."

The pharaoh said nothing to address that further worry, knowing full well that all his sweet assurances would not dispel the truth. He was in danger, now, with a specter of the Ring spirit loose inside the Puzzle. It could not destroy him, but it could torture and taunt him if it wanted to. Trying to forget about such things, he simply traced his fingertips across Yugi's brow. "I'm here to protect you, Yugi. You can sleep without fear. I will take care of you."

Yugi nodded, closing his eyes again and settling down. "I'm not that tired, though."

"Do you want me to tell you a story?"

"Would you?"

Yami's eyes widened in surprise. The offer had been facetious. "You…want me to?"

"If you know any."

The pharaoh had to think hard about it for a moment. He still didn't remember much from his past, including what stories might have been told to him as a child, but some vague, gossamer memory floated to him. He started to speak even without fully knowing what he was grasping for, his voice low and calming as to a child. "I will tell you a story about friendship, because those are the best kind…" Though he wasn't sure where the story was coming from, Yami quietly told a fable about ants and locusts, a parable of trust and helping that must have been told to him once long ago. It seemed appropriate, given all their talk about looking after one another and relying on one another. Yugi only interrupted once or twice, listening with interest down to the moral of the story. At that point Yami trailed off quietly, and for a long time Yugi said nothing, but laid still, breathing softly through parted lips. Figuring he had fallen asleep at last, Yami slowly pushed himself to his feet, trying not to jostle the bed, and went around to the other side so he could climb up beside his lover. He stretched himself out beside Yugi, carefully moving the Puzzle to the other side of the pillow without letting it jingle, and curled his body protectively around the boy, wanting only to lie there beside him and watch him sleep.

Yugi didn't once open his eyes, but he shifted toward Yami and curled up with his head against the pharaoh's chest. "I liked that story," he murmured under his breath, clearly only half-awake. "No wonder you're such a good friend, Yami."

Touched, Yami smiled to himself and slid an arm underneath Yugi's head in order to cradle him in his arms while he slept. Within seconds, the youngster was fully asleep, the pain and grief easing from his face as he dropped into a completely dreamless slumber. For Yami, however, the long night was only beginning. He glanced warily over his shoulder toward the open doorway that led to the rest of the Puzzle's realm, and sighed sadly. _What do you do when your only safe haven is no longer safe?_


	5. Part 5- A Scream from Within

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.**

Part 5

A Scream from Within

Sunday was precious to most students – that day of freedom when school uniforms were thrown aside and homework could be temporarily forgotten – but it was a day Ryou Bakura seldom looked forward to. At least in school he could immerse himself in studying and thereby dull his senses, but when Sunday came and his classmates were hanging out and playing games, he usually found himself with an extra twenty-four hours' worth of loneliness he wished he could trade for just a little more mind-numbing homework. He had none, though, leaving him completely adrift this weekend. There were no more tournaments to watch or play in, and thankfully no new Millennium Items floating mysteriously around, which should have given him a pleasant lull in which to try to build some stability into his chaotic life. Instead, each passing Sunday filled him with further dread, wondering how long it would take before the spirit rooted inside the Ring he kept dangling from a nail in the wall got restless enough to come out, take over his mind, and drag him somewhere else against his will. Granted, nothing could possibly be worse than being thrust into the shadow realm with no hope of ever being rescued, but Bakura couldn't be sure that it wouldn't happen to him again. The spirit had been dormant for some time, as if watching the world for interesting developments, but Bakura could still feel him like a draft of cold air in the back of his mind. It seemed that no matter what happened to his body or to the Ring itself, he could not get rid of the evil spirit leeching from his inner soul. Such a worry was never far from his mind, and quiet Sundays gave him even more idle time for those thoughts to grow louder and louder in his head until he feared it would drive him insane. For once, he decided to do something unlike himself, something normal – he wanted to go out.

An absent father and indifferent mother made it easy for him to just throw on a button-up shirt and jeans and wander outside, no curfews to obey or reasons to come back. The cacophony of the street drowned out his morbid thoughts for a while, and Bakura almost found himself contented by the warm sunshine and friendly scent of sakura in the air. He wasn't going anywhere specific, though the sidewalks carried him gradually toward the shopping districts of Domino City, where he found himself happily lost in a sea of anonymity as tourists and patrons crowded his path, all of them bent on being somewhere else as quickly as possible. He almost didn't recognize some classmates without their uniforms, but they didn't even notice him as he passed by where they goggled at some funky fashions in a store window. That was fine for Bakura; he wasn't friends with that sort anyway. They tended to either ignore his presence or make fun of him for his strange, silvery hair and quiet demeanor. He walked on past a park, where the familiar ring of sparkling sound effects caught his ear briefly. He paused and glanced down the walk to see a couple of younger kids with KaibaCorp duel disks on their arms, facing each other for a friendly game in which one kid's Ryu-Kishin was triumphantly slashing the other's Disk Magician to pieces. Bakura's heart twisted briefly in his chest, making him hurriedly continue past the dueling munchkins to get out of earshot of the sound of monsters exploding and life points going down. He used to really love Duel Monsters, but lately, the game was more a source of fear than anything else. Picking up that deck meant that the spirit inside him was ready to leap out and use it to drag opponents into the shadow realm and devour souls, and Bakura didn't want that. Even if some of them deserved it. He shook his head and tried to focus on something else as he crossed the street and headed up a different block.

Wondering what time it was made Bakura remember that he needed to get a new watch, which in turn gave him something to do for a while as he hunted out a good place to look for one. Unfortunately, most of the shops on this street did not fit his unassuming tastes, he realized as he passed a window display of fright wigs, Lolita parasols, and studded leather jewelry. _They just want to be like all the rich kids in Tokyo_, Bakura sighed to himself as he noticed a girl from his school cooing over a lacy dress that looked more suited to cosplay than casual wear. Then, he saw a figure come out of the next shop ahead of him that made his insides go both hot and cold. No one else had hair like that, not even on a Sunday. Yugi was immediately followed by Joey, who was having trouble containing his laughter about something. Bakura slowed down and tried not to look their way, torn between hoping they noticed him and came over to say hi, and wishing they would turn the other way and not see him at all.

Yugi gave his best friend an annoyed pout. "What? All I said was it looked cool."

"Yug, I can _not_ see you in that kind of thing," Joey snickered. "Where would you wear it? The next Duel Monsters tournament? The leather pants are bad enough."

Yugi's pout became even more pronounced. "What's wrong with my pants?"

"Nothing, if you're a male stripper. Joking, I'm joking!" Joey immediately put in as Yugi turned sharply and headed away from the shop, in the opposite direction as Bakura. "The pants are fine! I just never thought of you as the kind of guy who'd like that sort of thing."

Without being able to see his face, Bakura wondered if Yugi had become angry with his friend, but his voice came back with its usual gentle humor. "Maybe there's a few things you don't know about me, Joey."

Bakura watched them pass out of hearing range before following them at a comfortable distance, not entirely sure why he was doing so. He had always been of the opinion that the black leather pants looked quite sexy on Yugi, but then again, they had history. Brief history, but it was still history. He revisited the unpleasant past in his mind as he distractedly walked behind his two friends, and compared it to the present. Nothing had changed for him, he was still alone and uninvited as always. Yugi, on the other hand, seemed to have gotten over him in a big way. Bakura had seen enough of Yugi at school to know that he was quite happy with his life these days. Despite going through some very tough times with the last tournament and dealing with the pressure of saving the entire world before it could be plunged into darkness, Yugi appeared as carefree as ever, smiling a lot and acting much the same as he had in the days before stepping into the life of a world champion duelist. Even now, as Bakura followed the two friends, he could hear Yugi's bright laughter drifting back to him. What had he found to make him so happy, when the boy he had broken up with before their relationship ever got going was still so sad? Bakura desperately wanted to ask him, but he knew he probably didn't want to hear the answer. It was hard enough to see him every day at school, knowing what had driven them apart.

The boys ended up on the pedestrian mall at the city center, where Battle City had been established a few months before, and Bakura shrank back behind a random kiosk when he saw Yugi hop up to a seat on the edge of a wall while Joey wandered off. He might have been going to get food, or find a pay phone or something perfectly normal, leaving Yugi to wait for him with his smiling face tilted up to feel the sunshine. It was Bakura's only chance to go to him, to say hello and see if any flicker of regret or remembrance showed in those violet eyes when they talked to each other, but he couldn't make himself leave his hiding place. Watching was enough, admiring the beauty and grace in the slender young man in black leather pants perched on the wall, the Millennium Puzzle in his lap glinting brilliantly with flashes of reflected sunlight every time he moved. As Bakura stared hungrily, he noticed Yugi's attention drift away from the people thronging the square, turning almost inward, his eyes half-closing and a small smirk appearing on his lips as if someone had whispered a joke in his ear. The distraction didn't make him look any less content; in fact, he seemed even more so. Bakura's mind pounded with curiosity, trying to imagine what Yugi could be finding so entertaining when no one was with him at the moment. No one…except his spirit companion, Bakura remembered. Unlike Bakura's own shadowy Millennium partner, Yugi and the pharaoh had become inseparable friends, facing their troubles together as one. _Is that what he's doing?_ Bakura asked himself. _Is he talking to the spirit of the Puzzle?_ He placed a hand absently over his own heart, and gasped as he felt the smooth, rigid shape beneath his shirt. He had not put the Ring on when he left the house, he was sure of it. And yet, it was around his neck now. The hand clenched into a fist. _How is this possible? It won't leave me alone!_

Though the internal question was rhetorical, someone answered it. A cold, raspy voice stole through his mind unbidden. "Do you really think you can go anywhere alone, without me?"

Bakura turned away from watching Yugi and leaned his back against the kiosk, giving himself some privacy. His eyes frantically searched the ground at his feet while his mind scrambled to recover from the unusual intrusion. "What is this?" he whispered. "What are you doing?"

The voice in his head chuckled darkly. "You and I don't talk very much, my dear Bakura. Did I surprise you?"

Bakura swallowed hard, finding his mouth suddenly dry with fear. He knew far too well of the spirit of the Millennium Ring inside him, and all the nasty, horrible things it liked to do and say, using his own body as its vehicle to attempt to steal other Millennium Items and destroy the pharaoh's spirit who lived in Yugi. Yet, it usually did its work without his knowledge, much less his consent. He tended to black out when the spirit took him over, he very rarely was allowed to see and feel what was going on when the other was in control. He couldn't remember them ever speaking directly to each other before, unless the spirit had threatened him in such a way as to impress it upon his mind without using words. Closing his eyes, Bakura suddenly felt the spirit's nearness, an unpleasant sensation within him. For once, the spirit was not up to something or observing adversaries, its attention was focused directly on Ryou Bakura himself. Bakura mumbled the words out loud, though there was no one around him to listen. "You…want to talk to me?"

"I noticed you staring at a certain someone across the way," the Ring spirit murmured in his razor-smooth, slightly accented voice. "What a coincidence. I'm watching him too…though not for the same reasons as you are, I would imagine."

Ryou grimaced. "What do you know of it?" he nervously challenged.

The spirit lurked within a corner of the young man's mind, able to see through his eyes what he saw as well as sense things beyond surface reality. He settled for following Bakura's gaze as it drifted toward an unsuspecting Yugi once again. "You and I may not be close, but that doesn't mean I'm unaware of what goes through your mind. I keep my eye on you – particularly since it seems you like to keep secrets from me."

A small gasp escaped Bakura, and he clapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself silent. He had been counting on the lack of a bond between the spirit and himself to save him, to give him at least one thing he could call his own, but now it seemed even that had been stolen from him. "I don't!" he protested within his thoughts. "It was just that one thing, that one time…and I was right to do so! You would have hurt Yugi…"

"You're such a weak and simple fool," the spirit dryly remarked. "So worried about him. What if it was _you_ I decided to take out my anger on, hmm?"

Bakura found himself staring longingly at Yugi. "I don't care," he breathed. "I'm nothing, I'll gladly take the punishment if it means keeping him safe."

The spirit made an irritated noise. "Precisely why I haven't retaliated against you," he grumbled. "It's only fun when you're afraid of me, and you don't fear me anymore. You've become somewhat resigned to my presence."

"I can't do anything to get rid of you," Bakura sighed. "It's pointless trying to fight." _But I have hope_, he thought to himself, as if the spirit inside him couldn't hear it. _Maybe Yugi is right, maybe the pharaoh can stop this thief and give me my life back._

The dark spirit observed him in gloating silence for a while, deciding whether or not to shatter his host's last futile hopes. He settled for taunting him further, dancing dangerously around the issue. "If you really believed that, you would stop resisting me and become part of me. But that's not something you want to do, is it?" he added as Bakura shuddered visibly. "You're repulsed by the mere suggestion of letting me get away with the things I want to do to this world and to the pharaoh. Aha, I knew it. You're fighting against me the only way you know how. But you said it yourself – it's pointless."

Bakura tore his eyes away from watching Yugi, now that he could see Joey coming back across the pedestrian mall towards his friend, and leaned back against the kiosk again. "Perhaps it is," he murmured softly, "but I won't give in to you. You've ruined my life enough, the least I can do as payback is ruin your plans for the Millennium Items."

"Such bitterness," the spirit said mockingly. "Do you really think that if you were to get rid of me, Yugi would have anything to do with you?" He laughed harshly. "You're fooling yourself. You haven't a chance anymore."

"You don't know that," Ryou said sullenly. "We've been together before. I know he's not dating anyone, so…"

"You think so, but I know something you don't," the spirit said with particularly sick delight. "Yugi seems to be under the impression that he has a boyfriend."

Ryou's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"You may not be able to tell, but I can. I sense the connection between little Yugi and the spirit of the pharaoh, and I can sense when they speak to each other in a realm where no one else can interfere. It's quite pathetic, really." The spirit mulled it over, watching for Bakura's reaction. "It appears that he is under the delusion that he and the pharaoh are lovers."

Bakura shot a disbelieving stare over his shoulder at where Yugi was – or had been until a moment ago. He and Joey were gone. "But…" Ryou eventually stammered, "how…how is that possible? The pharaoh is only a spirit, he doesn't have a body…"

"I wouldn't know," the wicked spirit replied, "though the thought does fill me with quite a bit of curiosity – seeing as I'm the same as he is. If I had to guess, I would say it's all in his mind."

"That makes no sense."

"There is a reason they say the mind is the most important of the sexual organs," the thief snickered. "That shouldn't be hard for _you_ to understand, judging by the things I watch you do to yourself."

Ryou snarled in embarrassment, his cheeks flushing. "You have no right to spy on me or say anything about what goes on in my mind. We are _not_ partners."

"You can't keep me out, Bakura. Like it or not, you're stuck with me. So get it out of your head that you're ever going to have a chance to go back to Yugi. It won't be possible, and he doesn't want you anyway. He only used you as a substitute for his precious Yami, until they learned what they could do within their minds. It must be heartbreaking to consider that he would rather live in his inner fantasies than let you touch his physical body." The sick glee persisted in his voice. "I'll bet he comes even harder in the pharaoh's hands, too."

"Bastard." Ryou's whisper trembled, and his face was on fire with anger and shame, tears swimming in his brown eyes. "I hate you. Why don't you leave me alone? Find someone who shares your obsession with causing pain, and take refuge in his body instead!"

The spirit laughed raucously. "Sorry," he rasped, "but destiny is destiny. Only one can be chosen, and that's you, my dear Bakura."

"But I don't want you! I hate you!" Bakura seethed at the spirit, clenching a fist. "If not for you, Yugi and I would still be together!"

More laughter. "You think so? If not for me, you would have never even met him."

More vicious anger. "If not for you," Ryou breathed, still shaking, "I would have actually had friends. You've driven away every single one of them."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," the spirit said with mock innocence. "In case you haven't learned it by now, Bakura, life is pain and friends aren't worth the effort. In the end they all turn their backs on you. Take it from me, I've existed far longer than anyone. Some things are eternal; friendship is not one of them. You need to get your priorities in order." His presence wrapped around his host until it seemed he was whispering in Bakura's ear. "You're weak and pathetic. You need to toughen up, and see this world for its reality, not for the idealism of your youth and your scant hopes that someone might love you someday."

Ryou clutched his head in his hands. "Leave me alone, you bastard!" he cried within his mind. "What do you know?"

The spirit chuckled throatily. "That word sounds so cute on your lips. The way you say it, it's hardly an insult."

Ryou slumped to a seat with his head in his arms, trying to hold back the tears dancing in his eyes. "I hate you so much," he whispered. "I wish you would just go away. I would rather be completely alone than have to suffer with you the rest of my life."

The voice purred in his inner mind. "Wish all you like, it's not going to come true. Face it. I'm all you have. The ones you thought were your friends are scared of you; Yugi doesn't love you, he'd rather fantasize with a disembodied pharaoh than be with you. I'm the only one you can count on."

Ryou lifted his head a little, his eyes unfocused. "Do you truly derive that much pleasure from my pain?"

The spirit backed off slightly. "What do you mean?"

"There isn't any logical reason why you should torture me. In fact, you even saved me…once. So the only conclusion I can make is, you get off on my pain."

The thief hummed thoughtfully. "Maybe I do. Who's to say?"

Ryou shook his head. "You're wrong. Yugi still cares about me – maybe not as I want him to, but he's still my friend. And he's shown me that there's more to life than the power, anger, and fear you seem to embody." He glared at the ground between his feet. "You're not the only thing I have to hold on to. And you're certainly _not_ my friend!"

A horrid, psychotic laugh rang through his head. "You think that matters to me? I never wanted to be your friend! Ugh." The laugh subsided, but the spirit remained smug. "My misfortune that the one chosen to bear my spirit again after all these ages is such a pathetic wimp of a boy."

Bakura snarled under his breath in anger and heaved himself to his feet, startling a long-haired guy with headphones as he burst out from behind the kiosk at a dead run. There was no way he could disengage the spirit this way, but it somehow felt good to run away, to let the wind brush away the hot tears in his eyes. He had always known that he shared none of the ideals or personality traits of the evil spirit in his Ring, but to hear all of his own deepest beliefs flung back in his face in mockery like that stung worse than he expected it to. He just lowered his head and ran all the way home, not stopping to apologize to anyone he blundered into or look around to see if Yugi was still there. The Ring spirit let him go, biding his time until his host thought he had achieved safety and privacy before springing more merciless taunting on him. Bakura threw open the door and stormed through the house, hardly noticing that it was deserted, and slammed his bedroom door behind him. He collapsed in a heap on his bed, exhausted, but relished the momentary silence. The Ring slipped out from under his shirt with a little jingle and flopped flat onto the bed next to him. "You horrible bastard," Ryou remarked to the spirit once more. "You can't even allow me one small moment of happiness, can you? You have to take everything from me, down to my last chance at love."

He blinked into the shadows of his darkened room, perplexed, for it seemed as though the spirit was taking form before him. Perhaps it was only a trick of his mind, but there was definitely a faint, ghostly presence in his vision, dark and wicked eyes shadowed under an unruly sheaf of white hair. "You're only deluding yourself, you know," it said in that same seething voice full of spite and nasty glee. "Now that little Yugi has made himself the pharaoh's concubine, what hope do you have of coming between them? Unless sex with you is, to use a cliché, mind-blowing." He laughed. "But then again, you'll never get close enough to him to find out, will you?"

Bakura sat up and glared at the spirit. "Vulgar beast. If you think that's all it is to me, then you know far less about me than you think you do. I think you're the deluded one."

The spirit set his hands on his hips, straightening up. "Oho, is that it?" he teased. "You could have fooled me. I know where your mind wanders at night when you touch yourself…"

"Shut up!" Ryou snapped, clenching his fists on the blanket. "You don't know anything about me! I don't care about that, I just want…" Emotions began to creep up on him, rendering the rest of his tirade unintelligible as he took deep breaths to calm himself.

"Love," the spirit finished for him, that single word dripping off his lips like poisonous venom. "That's what you want, isn't it? Love, romance? All that pathetic sappy stuff? You'll be waiting forever. The world is nothing but cold and darkness." He stepped closer, his ethereal presence towering over Bakura. "Love is a lie. They're all lies. It's time you learned that for yourself. You can't count on someone coming along and rescuing you from hell by offering you sweet promises. It never happens that way. They all betray you and hurt you, and you're left with the same nothing you had before. All you can do is curl up alone and stroke yourself off to the tune of your sad fantasies. But like I said," he added with another sly grin, "the mind is probably the most useful sex organ."

"I don't think you're the one to talk," Ryou muttered. "You can't even do that much."

"Perhaps I haven't, since being awakened from centuries of slumber," the spirit mused casually, "but that doesn't mean I couldn't. If the pharaoh's taken himself a lover, then so can I."

Ryou's eyes went wide, and for a good while he wasn't sure how to react to that. Absolute terror was the first thing to come to mind, and it rendered him silent for a time. He finally mustered a small voice. "You're not like him. The Ring isn't the same as the Puzzle."

"Perhaps not." The hideous grin on the spirit's face told clearly of his thoughts. "But I can think of a way. Mm, yes, that would work splendidly."

Bakura got to his feet confrontationally. "What are you going to do?"

The translucent spirit before him just reached out his hand and passed it over the Ring dangling around Bakura's neck. The eye in the center of the pyramidal shape glowed brilliantly. "Watch and see," he murmured seductively.

A cold mist began to creep around their feet. Ryou looked around wildly as the world he knew faded into darkness, and the spirit usually fluttering about his mind coalesced fully, appearing as an older, sleeker, wilder image of him, clad in the same button-down shirt (though far more unbuttoned than Ryou's). Soon he could see nothing but the bluish fog illuminated by a sourceless light and the thief of the Ring standing there with his arms folded, smirking. Ryou knew this place, he had been here before. "So this is your solution," he said, trying to be brave but his voice trembling. "The shadow realm."

"It's perfect," the spirit gloated. "The union of mystical energies and life force, the only place in which I can separate my mind from yours and still remain intact." He lifted a hand and flexed his fingers one by one as if to stretch them and feel their solidity. "I got the idea from Marik, after his dark side toyed with his own divided spirit by suspending them both separately in the shadow duel. They and their opponents each existed individually, and yet were still linked to each other. Quite ingenious, actually. I didn't know he had that sort of power." He lowered his eyes to the Ring around Bakura's neck. "And since my powers are greater than those given by the Rod, I knew it would work for us too."

"But I don't want you!" Ryou protested, backing away even though there was nowhere to run to. "Don't you understand that? I hate you! I detest you with every fiber of my being, what makes you think I would want to…to…?"

The dark spirit took a step forward and seized Bakura by the wrist, preventing him from retreating any further. "What makes you think you have any choice in the matter? Can you break us out of the shadow realm? I think not. You're mine, here."

Ryou knew it was fruitless to try to fight back, the spirit was stronger and had the full use of his powers in the shadow realm. As he shrank back in fear, staring up into leering eyes, he grasped for his only defense against pain and forcible rape – he began to cry softly. Great tears welled up in his eyes and silently ran down his cheeks as he met the dark spirit's eyes. "Please," he whispered, lowering his head submissively. "Please…don't."

The thief froze, taken aback by the tone of the desperate plea. His every intention when invoking the shadows had been to pounce on Bakura and have his way with him whether he wanted it or not, but now something within his spirit faltered. The pretty, liquid brown eyes gazing up at him were not simply filled with the abject terror he loved to see in his prey; rather, he could see the pain in them, the complete hopelessness and despair of one resigned to his fate, no matter how awful it might be. The protest seemed to be simply out of reflex. After a long silence of staring, the spirit let go of Ryou's wrist. "Come now, Bakura," he said, lowering his voice to a cajoling purr. "You know as well as I do that I'm all you have left. The world has dealt you cruelties beyond what I could ever do to you, so forget about it for a while." He stepped even closer and combed a hand through Ryou's long hair, sweeping it back from his face. "I wouldn't hurt you, you know." He couldn't resist a smirk. "Well, not unless you wanted me to."

Still weeping, Ryou stared wildly at him. "What?"

"Some people are into that sort of thing." The spirit's hand curled around Bakura's ear and traced the lobe down to his neck. He could feel the young man stiffen beneath his touch, as if tensed to flee. "But I'm sure you don't think about other people's proclivities. I know what goes on in your head. You're no innocent, but there's quite a bit you can't or don't want to fathom." He ran a fingertip down Ryou's neck to his shirt collar, watching the boy tremble and close his eyes. "You're afraid I'm going to open you up to a world you didn't want to know?"

"Please don't do this," Ryou whispered, his eyes firmly shut against the murky darkness of the shadow realm. "I don't…want…"

The spirit took him by the arm, but not nearly so roughly as before. "I know what you want, but how long are you going to torture yourself waiting for something that will never happen? You'll never become stronger if you spend your life holding back. You should just take what you want, no questions asked."

Brown eyes opened and gazed directly into the spirit's with piercing anger. "Like you do?" he seethed in a low growl.

"It's a lifestyle that suits me well." The spirit dared to smirk, but it faded as the deadly gaze did not relent. He quieted his voice again and tried another tactic. "I can see, now, that it's pointless trying to shape you into myself. You're too good, you will never fall in with me and be my partner. I will always have to put up with your saintly resistance. Perhaps that's why I like you." The flicker of surprise in those eyes made the thief grin. "I can break spirits as easily as snapping a twig. Yet, in all the years you've played host to me, I haven't been able to break you. You foil me, and as much as it infuriates me, I can respect that." He curled a hand around Ryou's neck and cheek, somewhere between cupping his face and placing threatening fingertips on his throat. "Even now, you know I'm going to have you, but you still plead for me not to do it. But deep down, doesn't some part of you want it?" He leaned in close, breathing in the boy's warmth. Whatever matter they became in the shadow realm, it felt real enough – flesh, blood, breath – that having it his hands again was intoxicating. "Your heart may wish for something more flowery, but your body knows better. It knows you have needs, and sometimes it doesn't care who your partner is as long as it's getting what it wants." His tongue darted out from between parted lips and caressed Ryou's earlobe. "You simply hunger for a touch, and so desperately that right now, your body is screaming for you to let me do it to you even though you hate me."

A word of denial formed on Ryou's lips, but the hot breath across his ear and the body slinking up against his caused it to die before he could give voice to it. Only a throaty chuckle from his foe could wake him from his desperate stupor. "It isn't real," he said weakly. "This isn't my true body. We're in the shadow realm…"

"Foolish boy," the spirit growled gleefully. "In the shadow realm, everything is real. Everything that goes on inside your mind comes to life, including that part of you that wants to say, fuck your dreams and desires and let him have you." He snaked an arm around Bakura's waist and drew him closer, delighted to feel the resistance softening. He leaned in close and murmured across his ear again. "It isn't your innocence I want to steal, dear Bakura, just your inhibition. I'll wager you have it in you to be a ferocious lover, but who will ever let you explore that side of you? Only me. Hold out hope for true love if you want, but nothing says you can't also accept a gift like this and enjoy yourself in the meantime."

"Enjoy myself?" Ryou repeated in an astonished whisper, blinking back his tears. "What kind of nonsense is that?"

"What are you afraid of? That you'll find that you like it?" The spirit licked teasingly at his earlobe again, feeling Bakura shudder in his arms. "You won't know until you try it. You can't play demure and try to push me away when I can feel that you just want someone inside you. You want to try, don't you?"

Ryou rested a hand on the spirit's chest, intending to push him away, but the feel of strong muscles beneath the thin shirt gave him pause, and against his better judgement, he clenched his fist on the shirt instead. "I don't want to be forced," he pleaded in a choking whisper.

The thief purred his approval at this surrender. "I won't force you if you just give in and let go," he promised. "You're my vessel. I like you in one piece. It isn't in my interest to do you any harm, so you can stop worrying and start feeling good." He softened his touch just enough to press his fingers against Ryou's chin to get him to look up at him. "You can pretend I'm someone else if it helps you relax. Yugi, perhaps, or even the bloody pharaoh for all I care. I'm not into that love and trust thing, I don't care. This isn't anything but raw need, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise." He grinned savagely into gaping brown eyes. "Aren't you glad I'm honest with you? Anyone else would fill your head with lies about love and togetherness and buy your ass with cheap dates and cheaper promises. At least with me, you can skip the lies and heartbreak and just get right to the sex."

Whether or not the evil spirit was lying for his own agenda, too much of what he said rang true in Ryou's heart. He had certainly wasted a lot of his life dreaming about love, be it from girls or boys, and so far he had nothing to show for it. As much as he wanted to be strong and retain that hope, let it flare up as defiance against the nihilistic darkness of this shadow world, he found he no longer cared enough to disagree with the thief's assessment. He really did just want to be touched, and taken, and enjoyed by someone, and he was too weak to bother denying pleasure to himself or to the spirit he hated so much. Even so, he couldn't stop the tears from running down his face as he wilted in the spirit's arms and lowered his head in a sign of defeat. He said nothing, but knew his tacit consent had been received when he felt warm lips against his neck ravaging him hungrily.

The dark spirit kept one arm firmly around Ryou, as if to prevent him from prying himself free and bolting, but the young man hardly twitched as he stood there letting the spirit do whatever he wanted. A hand slid down his neck to his shirt collar, nimble fingers groped blindly for the buttons and undid them one by one, moving slowly down his chest. Bakura flinched at the feel of a hand creeping inside his shirt, splaying across his chest and stroking lightly at his nipple, his breath catching in his throat. His eyes fluttered open briefly as the spirit lifted his head and let his hot breath caress across his host's ear instead. "You're so tense," he purred in his most cajoling tone. "Relax, I'm not going to harm you." He smirked darkly, turning Ryou's face back towards him with just a fingertip on his cheek. Ryou's eyes remained downcast, and the spirit frowned at the tracks of tears on his face. "It won't be worth it for me if you don't enjoy it," he continued in his snarky murmur, running his fingertip along Ryou's lower lip, "so I'll just have to be sure you do."

Bakura raised his sad eyes slowly to the face hovering over him. "Do you have to keep talking?" he mumbled quietly.

The spirit chuckled a little. "Not at all," he replied, and leaned in to kiss Ryou hard, effectively cutting off all attempts at forming words. Ryou returned it halfheartedly, not at all impressed with the thieving spirit's rough, zealous manner of kissing. After a moment, though, the kiss softened, as if the spirit had read his host's mind and changed his tactic. The hand on his neck slid around behind his head, fingers combing possessively into his hair to keep him from pulling away from the kiss. The spirit had slowed down and backed off enough, sensing that Bakura liked being subtly seduced and reacting accordingly, tracing his tongue across the young man's lips until he surrendered with a soft sigh. It wasn't nearly as beautiful and delicious as making out with Yugi had been, but Ryou found himself grudgingly accepting the dark spirit's tempting kisses, particularly when the tongue inside his mouth began to stroke his in a new and irresistible way. Perhaps this creature of darkness had memories of his past encounters, unlike the pharaoh, and knew better than a novice like Yugi how best to tease and enflame the passions of whatever lover he had taken at the time. Ryou's hand, still clinging to the spirit's shirt, tightened desperately as he felt himself being swept away, his last rigid resistance failing under the power of the hot, deep, slow kiss that blinded him to his companion's true nature. He didn't want to fight, since feeling those tingles of electricity down his spine once again meant he was not completely numbed by his despair. His body wanted this, even if his heart did not.

Bakura felt himself being pushed back, maneuvered by a wiry body slightly stronger than his, until something bumped into the backs of his knees. He broke off the kiss with a gasp of surprise and alarm, glancing down to see his bed arising out of the swirling shadows. The spirit still holding him tightly purred in amusement at the look on his captive's face. "What? Just because we're in the shadow realm doesn't mean we should be uncomfortable."

Ryou blinked uncertainly at the bed, thinking it a mirage. "But…how?"

"Silly boy," the thief snorted. "When I called upon the shadow realm, it arose to engulf you in your room. Everything that was there still is, though I control what you see of it." He pushed Bakura hard, landing half on top of him as they fell onto the bed. "This is all we need. You can forget about the rest."

Ryou gave a small, worried whimper as hands found their way inside his shirt again, tugging it out of his waistband and letting it fall open. The spirit leaned down to kiss him again, along his jaw and neck and down to the hollow of his throat, keeping Ryou's legs trapped between his knees. The Millennium Ring lay splayed over the center of Bakura's chest, its tines pointing every which way and jingling faintly with every panting breath he took. The spirit casually brushed it aside to get at a nipple, making Ryou twitch in both pleasure and discomfort. He hated to look down and see this dark, twisted version of himself drawing his tongue teasingly across his chest, but it did feel good. Ryou gave up protesting and let his arms flop onto the bed, his eyes wandering up and back, trying to search out more details of his room that the shadow realm may not have quite obliterated. He may have decided to let this happen, but he didn't have to watch. Unfortunately, all that existed above and behind him was the roiling blue fog of shadows, neither close nor distant, defining the mystical nether realm in which the spirit that lived off him could be temporarily real. He settled for closing his eyes, biting his lip to keep from making too loud a cry which might be interpreted as enjoyment.

The spirit's lean, languid body remained poised above Bakura, his back arched cat-like, his weight on his hands as he leaned down to lick sensuously at the exposed nipple. He let his breath fall hot along the curves of the young man's body, over his chest and back up along his throat, pausing to lift his head and grin darkly at the hazy surrender in the brown eyes gazing back. But then, a grimace flickered across Ryou's face as he met the wicked gaze, and he pushed the spirit off him with surprising strength. The spirit fell onto his side on the bed as Bakura sprang out from underneath him and tried to run, realizing quickly that the shadow realm had erased the walls of his room and he could run forever without getting anywhere. He just stopped, then, and stood there with his hands hanging useless at his sides, his shirt open and the Ring resting coldly on his chest. The spirit snickered from where he lay. "Playing hard to get, are we?"

"No," Ryou said softly. "I can't do it. I won't do it."

The smirk vanished from the evil spirit's face in a flash. He pushed himself up to a seat and glared at the boy's back. "Don't lie to me. Not two seconds ago I felt you trembling underneath me. You want this."

"Maybe I do want sex," Ryou sharply interrupted, "but not with you. Not even my most desperate of desires could make me give in to you." He clenched his fists at his sides, keeping his back turned. "Even if you try to force me, I will fight back. I will claw your eyes out if I have to, but I won't let you have me."

A hand snaked around his waist from behind; he hadn't even heard or sensed the spirit's approach, but now he was there, a powerful arm clutching him and pulling him back against a taut, willowy body. "You haven't the strength," the spirit hissed in his ear.

Ryou's voice shook, but it was cold and serious. "You've never tested my strength."

The spirit started in surprise but didn't let go of him. "You're a fool," he growled. "I told you I would have you whether you wanted me to or not. We're back where we started. Whatever happened to all that begging me not to force you?"

Bakura kept his head down, his hair hiding his eyes and the tears running down his cheeks again, but his voice gained strength the longer he stood there unmolested. "Restore me to the real world," he demanded quietly. "This is over."

The hand slid away from his waist, but just when he thought the spirit was going to back off, it returned, grabbing him by the hair and pulling his head back so that his throat was exposed. Bakura gritted his teeth to keep from crying out. The dark spirit leaned against him, almost threatening to bite his tender neck. "It isn't over until I say it is," he spat. "You had your chance at a nice, sensual experience and you gave it up. Now deal with the consequences."

The moment the words left his lips, Ryou lifted a fist and drove his elbow backwards into the spirit's gut. The creature let go of him and stumbled backwards, more surprised than injured, though he had let his guard down enough that the blow made him cough and try to catch his breath. Bakura turned to face him, his dark eyes glittering angrily through the tears. "Restore us, you beast!" he cried. "I told you I'm not going to let you have me! You have every other facet of my life, but I'm going to keep this one for myself!"

"Insolent boy!" The spirit regained his feet and lunged, hands outthrust to capture his host, but before he could close a single finger on him, the Millennium Ring began to glow brilliantly between them. The spirit flinched back, raising a hand to block his eyes from the searing light. "What the…?"

Bakura threw back his head and screamed into the void, "Restore us to reality!" The light of the Ring surged, engulfing both of them and exploding into the darkness of the shadow realm. The sensation of power ripped through Bakura's body, knocking him staggering for a few moments. He went to his knees, gasping for breath. When he was at last able to lift his head and open his eyes, he found that his wish had been granted. He was back in his room, no trace of the blue fog of shadows lingering anywhere about the corners or the doors – and no trace of the translucent spirit either. Ryou glanced down at the Ring dangling from his neck, swaying innocently as he got to his feet. He wasn't sure how or why it obeyed him, when it was the spirit who held the keys to its shadow powers, but at the moment he wasn't about to question its saving mercy. He quickly buttoned his shirt back up and made a point to take the Ring off, hanging it back on its nail and backing away from it as if afraid it would jump back around his neck if he took his eyes off of it. After a few minutes his breathing returned to normal, but the adrenaline and power had drained completely, leaving him weak and unsteady and enabling the sobs to began to well up out of his heart. He had been at the edge, prepared to let go of his dreams and let the spirit have him, but the suggestion of pretending it was Yugi or someone else sweet and caring touching him like that proved his downfall. He looked into the spirit's eyes and realized he couldn't pretend, he couldn't divorce his heart from the rest of his body so easily. The fleeting beginnings of arousal had drained out of him like cold shock, giving him the strength he needed to throw off his attacker. His dreams of love may have been hopeless in the face of reality, but for once, they had saved him.

Ryou wrapped his arms around himself, collapsing to his knees again and then to the floor, curling up in a little ball and sobbing brokenly. The day ebbed and the evening shadows deepened around him, but he remained there for a long time, crying out the pent-up pain, frustration, relief, and fear, until he had nothing left but exhaustion and heavy sighs. He was alone again, but he understood for the first time that there were worse things than being alone.


	6. Part 6- The Talk

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.**

Part 6

The Talk

"Yugi! Joey is here, you're going to be late for school!" Grandpa Muto called up the stairs. He knew Yugi was up, having caught a glimpse of him drifting shadow-like into the kitchen for food, so he knew he didn't have to leave the store in order to roust his grandson out.

Joey waved a hand over his shoulder as he crouched drooling over a display of ultra-rare Duel Monsters cards. "No rush, Grandpa," he assured airily. "He can take his time. We'll make it. Aw yeah, check it out! It's the Fusion Gate I always wanted!"

"Joey," Grandpa said seriously, "may I ask you something? About Yugi?"

The blond boy straightened up and turned to face him with a puzzled look. "Yeah, sure. What is it?"

"I was just wondering if you've noticed a change in him lately. It seems to me he hasn't been himself."

Joey's eyes widened a little. "What do you mean?"

"The past few days, he's been…I don't know. Distant. He's hardly eaten a thing, he spends a lot of time shut away in his room. Did anything happen at school, that you know of?"

Joey scratched absently at his cheek as he thought. "No, I don't think so. Everything's been pretty normal. But now that you mention it, I have noticed him bein' a little on the quiet side. I thought he was just under the weather. Like, Bakura was hangin' out with us the other day, at the park, but he left because he wasn't feeling well. I thought maybe Yugi just caught the same cold or something."

Grandpa Muto received this information with a bit of a frown. "Hmm. Maybe that's just it. Maybe I'm overreacting." But his parental instincts didn't believe that for a minute. _It may be a long time since I was a teen, but as far as I know, lying in one's room listening to angsty rock music doesn't come from being sick_. "All the same, I would feel much better about it if you'd just make sure there's nothing wrong. Humor a grandfather who worries too much."

"Yeah, of course," Joey assured. "Yug's my best buddy, I'll get to the bottom of it." A thought suddenly crossed his mind, making his heart go cold for a moment. _He's been out of sorts since the day at the park, since Bakura was there. Oh man. I hope this doesn't have anything to do with any Millennium Ring spirits!_ At that moment, Yugi appeared in the doorway, shouldering his backpack. A faint smile played on his lips when he spotted Joey, but it was obvious that some kind of shadow lingered upon him, something in his eyes. "Hey, 'bout time!" Joey teased him. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah," Yugi softly sighed, giving his grandfather a glance and tiny forced smile as he passed and headed for the door.

"Have a good day, you two!" Grandpa Muto called after them.

The boys walked a good distance of the way to school in silence, Joey in the lead, though he kept glancing back once in a while to see that there was definitely something wrong with Yugi. He kept his eyes on the ground in front of his feet as he walked, his usual cheerful manner completely gone. When he could stand it no longer, Joey dropped back and fell into step alongside his friend. "Hey," he began brightly, "you want to go to the arcade after school? Or maybe, break out the duel disks and see who can whip who? I got some new cards to test drive…"

"No," Yugi softly answered, sounding tired. "I've got a lot of homework to do. Maybe another time, okay?"

"Okay, but…" Joey came to a stop, edging just in front of Yugi to get him to pause as well. "Listen, Yug. I'm kinda worried about you. You haven't been your usual bright-and-bouncy self for a few days now. Did something happen and I was too dumb to notice?"

Yugi slowly lifted his eyes to his best friend's face. "Uh…no, what makes you think that?" he replied, trying and failing to sound casual.

"Your grandpa and me both noticed. At first I thought you were maybe just not feeling good, but now I gotta wonder." Joey stuffed his hands in his pockets, doing his best not to be confrontational. "You seem kinda down about something."

Yugi sighed and lowered his gaze again. "It's nothing," he said morosely. "Really. I just have a lot on my mind."

"Don't pull that 'nothing' crap with me," Joey warned. "You may not want to tell your grandpa about it, but come on! I'm your best buddy! I'm always here for you, you know that." The dark thought from earlier intruded on his brain again. "Are you afraid I wouldn't understand, like if it's something to do with the Millennium Items or something?"

"No, it's not like that at all," Yugi said defensively. "I…please, Joey, it's just something I don't really want to talk about."

"Because you know I'll listen, no matter what," Joey persisted. "I've seen enough weirdness with the Millennium Puzzle and all to understand, if it's something like that." His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Did Bakura do something to you?"

"What?" Yugi's eyes went wide. "What makes you think Bakura had anything to do with it?"

"Well, I dunno," Joey shrugged, backing off on his tone at the startled and slightly angry look in the violet eyes now focused squarely on him. "I was just thinking, when did you start acting all quiet and under the weather, and I remembered you saying Bakura left the party at the park the other day because he wasn't feeling good. But now I gotta wonder if it had anything to do with that spirit that's got a hold of him with the Millennium Ring."

Yugi closed his eyes and shook his head. The spirit itself was not the reason for his melancholy, so he had no trouble denying it. "It's not like that at all, Joey. Don't think that."

"Because if he did something to you…" Joey clenched a fist. "I'll pound his face in!"

The anger flashed in Yugi's eyes again as he looked sharply up at his friend. "You won't do anything!" he snapped. "You leave Bakura alone! It's not his fault!"

Joey stepped back in surprise, holding up his hands entreatingly. "Okay, okay! Man, sorry! I didn't mean it like that. I just…want to protect you, Yug. You know I'll come to bat for you if anybody hurts you at all."

Yugi sighed hard. "I know you will, Joey, and I'm grateful. But this isn't something you can make better by coming to my rescue or anything. It's just something I have to get over on my own."

"You sure?" Joey cocked his head, a genuinely worried look in his brown eyes. "'Cause you know I'm here for ya, anything you need. It bothers me to see you obviously in some kind of trouble and not be able to do anything about it."

"I know. Really, though. It's just one of those things," Yugi said sadly. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate that you're here for me, Joey. And if I feel like I can talk about it…I will. You'll be the first one to know, trust me. But right now, I…" He faltered, and started walking again, shouldering past his friend. "…I just need some space."

"All right, Yugi. If that's what you want." Joey followed after him, hands still in his pockets. "Just remember, though. I'm your best friend. Anything you feel like laying on me, anytime, I'm there. Got it?"

"Yeah, I got it. Thanks, Joey." But inwardly Yugi knew he would not be able to tell Joey a thing. He had been a bit too perceptive about Bakura, but still fell wide of the truth. Not even the greatest desire to have a friend listen to his woes and support him as he healed could convince him to share his brief affair with Ryou Bakura with anyone. He may not have been able to keep his moping a secret, but as long as he could put off all the concerned queries and sympathetic offers to talk, he figured he could deal with the breakup on his own. These things are, after all, a part of life, he reasoned.

Classes seemed to drift by in a haze when Yugi's mind was not on learning. Fortunately, Bakura wasn't in his homeroom, so he could go quite some time without seeing him, as long as he chose when and where to pass in the hallways and spend his class breaks. As the afternoon whiled away, Yugi found himself staring blankly out the window at the thickening clouds, thinking to himself how perfect it was that the sky seemed to want to match his gray mood. His math teacher had his back to the class as he wrote on the chalkboard and didn't notice him absently daydreaming. Then, a familiar voice, deep and smooth, insinuated itself into Yugi's distracted mind. _Yugi…is everything all right?_

Not you too, Yugi thought for a moment before closing his eyes to respond to the inner voice, hopefully without his classmates' notice. _This isn't a good time, Yami. I'm in school_.

_I know you are, but I sense you're not even aware of which class you're in_, the pharaoh's spirit observed. _I'm concerned about you._

_Yeah, well…it's not like you can do anything about it_, Yugi inwardly sighed.

Yami's voice said nothing for a time, leaving Yugi free to look back out the window and wish he was anywhere but at his desk. But then, the quiet murmur returned. _If you won't talk to your friends or your grandfather, maybe you'll talk to me. After all, I know what happened. When you get home from school, perhaps you and I can have a talk_.

That was all; the voice disappeared as abruptly as it had intruded, leaving Yugi quietly confused. And yet, his heart warmed ever-so-slightly at the thought that Yami cared enough to bother him in the middle of school. It began to break through his stubborn walls, releasing him from the black despair that had wrapped his heart for several days now. He hadn't wanted to talk about it, not to anyone, even though he knew his friends cared and his grandfather worried. Somehow, knowing that even Yami cared was the last straw needed to change Yugi's mind. _They all know something's wrong. But I can't tell them. Only Yami really knows what happened, he was there. He saw it all_. That made him wince. _Oh no! Yami's had to watch everything! I can just imagine what he must be thinking. Oh great. I'm going to have to apologize to him for that_. Feeling more stupid than anything else now, Yugi vowed to accommodate his partner spirit's request and meet him after school, no matter what. At the very least, he felt he owed the pharaoh a grand apology for dragging him along on his adolescent quest for love and pleasure.

When he returned home, Yugi ashamedly avoided saying anything to his grandpa as he darted up the back stairs to the flat above the game shop, not sure how to explain that he was in a hurry to perform some kind of mind-link with the spirit of the Puzzle and didn't really have time to say hello or chat about school. Grandpa Muto let him slip by, though, leaving him to his teenage angst for now. Closing and then locking his bedroom door, Yugi threw his backpack across the room and just flopped down on his bed, closing his eyes. He didn't know how easy it would be to commune with Yami by sheer will; the times he remembered joining the spirit inside the Puzzle and visualizing the two of them face to face had mostly come in his sleep, when his mind was most open and restive. But as he lay there, the Puzzle's weight on his stomach, he could feel his mind slipping away into a trance state, almost like falling asleep without being tired. His jumbled thoughts quieted and a vision opened up before him, of the small chamber strewn with toys that he always found himself in whenever attempting to approach the pharaoh through the Puzzle. He stood there blinking for a moment, amazed, and then figured Yami himself had something to do with the quick and painless entry. Yami. That made Yugi rush to the door and yank it open, finding the spirit standing there waiting for him, clad exactly as Yugi was on the outside in a black shirt and his school jacket. All the pain and stress of the past few days, the melancholy and fear, rushed in as his defenses shattered like glass; Yugi let out a sob and threw himself into Yami's arms to the pharaoh's complete surprise. He could only stand there helplessly as the boy cried into his chest, finally able to release that which he had refused to let go of for so many days. One arm came around Yugi, holding him gently. As his tears gradually subsided, the pharaoh spoke calmingly. "I thought as much."

Yugi just clutched at the spirit's shirt, trying to catch his breath. He didn't know why the sight of Yami waiting for him set him off, but he didn't care. He was so glad just to have someone supporting him, not trying to give him advice or make him talk but just holding him, letting him cry out the pain of his broken heart. When at last he felt able to, Yugi swallowed hard and looked up into the placid, wise face of the pharaoh that so closely mirrored his own. "I-I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to…"

A pang of sympathy stabbed through Yami's heart as he gazed down at his young charge's tear-filled eyes. "It's all right," he quietly assured. "It's about time you let it out."

Yugi closed his eyes and shook his head, sending more tears streaming down his cheeks. "I didn't want it to be like this, I…you just wanted to talk, didn't you?"

"I wanted you to break free of this black despair you've been in for days now," Yami explained. "Whatever it took. It seems I didn't have to try very hard, though." He turned slightly toward the forbidding black steel door behind him, and it opened as if obeying his unspoken command. "You're welcome to take refuge inside the Puzzle, with me, for a while. I'm here to listen if you need me."

The lingering sobs made Yugi shudder still, but he nodded and let Yami guide him through the door into the labyrinthine expanse of the Puzzle where the spirit's mind and soul resided. It wasn't until he heard the door close behind them and felt the pharaoh's steady hand on his back that Yugi realized, this was what he had been longing for. He didn't care if no one else in the world understood him as long as Yami did, though Yami's care served to break through whatever block had kept Yugi from relying even on his dearest friends. He followed the taller spirit up one of the millions of staircases to a nice, broad, flat ledge on which they could sit comfortably and gaze out at the twisted, bizarre landscape that represented the hidden and confused secrets of the pharaoh's mind. Yami led the way, sitting down on the edge with his feet hanging over. Yugi slowly lowered himself beside him, bringing his knees up to his chest and curling his arms around them. "Thank you, Yami," he said quietly into the stillness between them. "It's like you know better than I do what I need."

Yami glanced sidelong at him with a faint smile. "I like to think I've gotten to know you fairly well in our time together, Yugi. But I've never seen you like this before. Even when things were at their darkest, you always kept a brave face."

"That's different," Yugi muttered into his knees. "This isn't about shadow games or Duel Monsters or saving the world. It's just me and my selfish desires. I don't know how to deal with that. When it's a matter of life and death, I know what to do – I have to win to survive. That's easy. But this…"

"Matters of the heart," Yami wisely observed. "They're much more complex."

Yugi shyly glanced at the pharaoh beside him. "Um…how much…have you witnessed? With me and Bakura?"

Yami closed his eyes, not wanting to appear hesitant before his companion. "I gave you your privacy in those times you were together," he murmured. "I didn't want you to feel like I was looking over your shoulder."

"Oh." Yugi blinked absently. "Well, thanks, I guess. And…I'm sorry you had to be dragged along into that. It probably seems silly to you."

The spirit turned to him, brow furrowing. "Nothing you do is silly, Yugi. Life means relationships of all kinds. You are no slave to me, you should feel free to pursue any kind of relationship with anyone you want, regardless."

"But I don't think I can have any kind of normal relationship," Yugi mused sadly, resting his chin on his knees. "Not with you in my life. I have to consider you, now, and most people don't understand that. Which is maybe why I let myself get involved with Bakura," he added softly. "He understands, and doesn't care. Not many people can give me that."

Yami nodded his understanding. "Is that what upset you? That it seems like Bakura is your only chance at finding someone who will love you despite your tie with me?"

Yugi sniffled. "I think so. I don't know…it's so many things." He hugged his knees even more tightly. "He was…he was my first, you know? My first real kiss. The first time anyone's…" His voice hushed, while a hint of color rose in his cheeks. "…touched me. I didn't want to get involved, I thought I was leading him on, but…it changed. I really started to like him. Against my better judgement, even. But I didn't want to think about that, I didn't want anyone telling me what I was doing was wrong. I just…" He sighed. "I liked the way it felt when he was close to me, how he made me feel. I wanted more of that. And I started to see that Ryou was a really nice person, someone I wanted to have close to me. But then that…spirit." Yugi's voice hardened in anger. "He's made it impossible for Ryou and I to ever get any further. I'm forced to just let him go!"

Yugi trembled with the force of his rage, but a light touch on his shoulder snapped him out of it in a second. Yami leaned over just enough to offer his tangible support, his hand on Yugi's shoulder quieting his shaking. "I wish I could offer you some kind of simplistic and clear-cut advice," the pharaoh said in a low tone, "but I'm afraid it would be nothing but hot air. I don't know what to say. But I can see that your pain is very real, Yugi, and I will not try to just brush it away with a few trite words."

"Thank you, Yami," the boy said faintly. "I kind of feel better knowing that you're here with me. You're the only one who stands any chance of ever freeing Bakura from that thief."

Without acknowledging that this was true, Yami squeezed Yugi's shoulder briefly before letting go of him. "Does this mean you've fallen in love with him?"

Yugi closed his eyes and sighed long, dropping his arms and stretching out his legs so they dangled over the edge. "I don't know," he mumbled, clasping his hands in his lap. "I've grown pretty attached to him, but…we only had a couple of flings. It's not like we were really in a deep relationship."

"Yet you're taking the breakup fairly hard. Because it was your first?"

"Maybe." Yugi gazed straight out beyond them into the darkness that swallowed up the more distant doors and stairways that crossed each other crazily. "I felt _some_thing for him. I don't know if I can call it love, though. I don't know what that feels like, yet." Even as he said this, a warmth grew in his heart and overspread the cold darkness left by his fears and grief. Whatever he felt for Bakura, however strong it was, it paled next to the feeling he had for the spirit sitting beside him. But he couldn't say anything about it – Yami wasn't like that. He was an ancient spirit, one who had better things to do with his time than play kissy-face with an adolescent geek like him. Yugi only sat there staring into the darkness. "I don't know," he sighed after a long pause. "I guess I'm just overreacting, like they say teenagers always do. I'd like to think I'm different somehow, that it's different with Bakura because of the Millennium Items, but…maybe it's not like that at all."

"Just because lovers break up every day and have since the dawn of time, doesn't make your pain any less important," Yami encouraged. "It's yours, and therefore it means something."

Yugi groaned a little. "Aw, listen to me going on and on about it. You don't really want to hear my whining, do you?"

The pharaoh frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

Yugi kicked his short legs against the stone wall that dropped away beneath him like a cliff, letting the heels of his sneakers bounce off the hard surface in an idle rhythm. "I suppose you don't really care about that sort of thing."

Yami glanced aside at him, cocking his head curiously. "What makes you say that?"

"Well…for one, you're just a spirit," Yugi cautiously pointed out. "You…don't have a body anymore."

"But within that spirit lies my heart and soul," the pharaoh wisely intoned. "You know that I still retain my emotions. You've witnessed them enough to know I still have the ability to feel. I feel…joy, grief, anger, fear…I care about you, and about your friends. Thus, I can also love."

"Oh. Good point," Yugi admitted, looking down at his knees in embarrassment. "But, you can't act on it, can you?"

"Perhaps not," Yami shrugged.

"I just thought…with the shadow games, and your powers, you had more important things to think about than…being in love," the younger one added, glancing up at Yami. "Since you couldn't do anything anyway."

"That's very true," the pharaoh mused, tilting his head back to look up at the stairways and blank doorways crossing up and over them like some kind of Escher painting. "There are very important issues for me to concentrate my energy on, as I continue my search for my memories. Issues of life and death, even. But…" He lowered his head and closed his eyes, speaking very softly. "…I would be lying if I said such thoughts never crossed my mind."

"What?" Yugi looked sharply at him. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing," Yami quickly demurred, opening his eyes. "I may not understand everything about the world you live in, but some things are universal. It doesn't matter who or what I am, I still know what it feels like to feel as you do, and I still know how to be there for my friend when he's in pain."

Young Yugi gave a small whimper and leaned against Yami, content to feel his companion's arm come around him again and hold him gingerly. "Thank you," he whispered. "I couldn't ask for anything more."

"Yet anything you need, it is yours. My ear to listen, or my shoulder to lean on."

Yugi shook his head slowly, making his spiky hair brush against the offered shoulder. "I think I'm all talked out. I don't know that there's anything else to be said, about Bakura or about…me. It's time I stopped feeling sorry for myself and just went on with my life. Someone's bound to like me again, someday," he added, not sounding very convinced.

"Is that what you're worried about?" Yami pulled back from him enough to be able to look down into his sad face. "You've had this taste of love, more than a taste, and now it's all you crave. There is more to life, Yugi. You have friends who care very much for you. You and I are safe for now from the shadows. It's normal to feel this way after losing someone you care about, but don't think that it means you will never have that chance again." He found himself reaching out to Yugi, touching the soft, youthful face turned up towards him with yearning eyes. "I know that's what it feels like right now," the pharaoh continued in his placid, deep voice. "It feels like your whole world is falling apart. But remember, you and I have faced far worse things and we're still alive. You were willing to suffer all kinds of pain on my behalf so I could beat Marik and save the world. I've not forgotten that. I don't think I ever will."

Yugi found himself hypnotized by the violet gaze trained upon him and the feeling of light fingertips cupping his cheek. He noticed how close their faces were, how little it would take to lean in and kiss those lips… "You were worried about me," he murmured, remembering the end of the Battle City fiasco all too clearly. "You didn't even care about yourself, you kept looking back at me, making sure I was okay."

"Does that surprise you?" Yami smiled faintly. "You mean much to me, Yugi. It hurts me to watch you suffer, particularly if it's because of me." The smile faded, and the fingertips explored up along Yugi's temple, brushing back the long locks of hair framing his face. "In a sense, I'm partially responsible for your breakup, too. And I don't like the way that feels."

"What?" Yugi's eyes widened. "What do you mean? It isn't your fault at all. I…I half expected you to say something to me after…after the first time, to warn me about him or something but…you never did. You never said anything." His brow furrowed worriedly. "You weren't mad at me, were you?"

Yami's hand fell away. "No, no…I wasn't mad at you at all. I…" He stopped short of revealing what he had felt, a strange fear awakening in his heart. If he were to admit to his jealousy, it would mean admitting to all his other feelings, and he wasn't sure he should do that to Yugi right now. How could the boy properly heal from his broken heart if another came out and confessed attraction so soon? It would only confuse him further, or so the pharaoh's spirit thought. He shook his head slightly. "I didn't think it was my place to interfere," he explained. "You said it once yourself. There are some things you need to do for yourself, you can't rely upon me all the time. I may be bonded with you, Yugi, but your life and your decisions are still your own. I didn't want to make them for you." His eyes saddened slightly. "I thought you would come to me afterward, seeking my advice if you were confused; or if you were happy, to share that happiness with me. But you didn't, either. You kept it to yourself and never said a word to me."

Yugi dropped his head, avoiding those eyes. "I was afraid you were going to warn me against it, and I didn't want to hear it. I admit it, I was being selfish. I was sure all you would do was remind me about the spirit of the Ring and tell me not to give in to Bakura, but I couldn't take that. Besides, I thought it was just a one-time thing, I thought it would pass and I would eventually bring it up when it had all blown over and you and I could have a good chuckle over my indiscretion." He frowned painfully, the furrows in his brow increasing. "But the spirit of the Ring interfered, and forced me to face it sooner than I wanted to." His eyes closed ashamedly. "And I didn't expect to fall for Ryou like that."

"Then, we have both made mistakes," Yami said patiently. "It is the stuff of learning. Yes, perhaps I would have warned you against getting involved with Bakura," he admitted, "but only if you asked me outright. If you had come to me after your first time, confused or frightened of your feelings, I would have only advised you to follow your heart." His hand came up again, resting very gently on Yugi's chest beside the dangling chain of the Millennium Puzzle. "You have a very strong heart, Yugi, and a kind one. It never leads you astray. I believe you meant well, and sought only Ryou Bakura's comfort and happiness. It isn't your heart's fault that the evil spirit who controls Bakura makes it impossible to be close to him."

Yugi glanced down at the hand resting over his heart, taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. "But…if it wasn't my heart that got me into this mess…"

"Sometimes, we may mistake other voices in our heads for the voice of our heart," the pharaoh said wistfully. "And even if you do follow your heart, if no one else around you is doing the same, it will cause a clash regardless. Only you can decide how you will rise above that."

For a long time, Yugi said nothing in return, gazing absently at the hand that retreated now from his chest and rested back in Yami's lap. Inside his mind, a million clamoring voices were finally settling down, leaving him in peace to ponder the sagacious words imparted to him as he sat half-facing his companion spirit. At last, he managed to whisper, "How did you get to be so wise, Yami?"

Yami smiled kindly and almost laughed. "I don't consider myself so. But…like you, I had to grow up very fast, and learn the toughest of life's lessons too early." He placed a hand over one of Yugi's, feeling a phantom warmth as if the two of them were actually there. "I also like to think, much of what I've learned about friendship and love, I've learned from you."

"Me?" Yugi looked up into the elder spirit's face.

"Yes, you. You have an uncommon soul. You see the best in everyone."

The boy smiled wanly. "Ryou said something like that, too."

"It doesn't surprise me in the least that he was attracted to you. There is something about you that causes even your rivals to become your friends. Well," Yami added with a wry laugh, "except for Seto Kaiba."

"One of these days, he's going to learn," Yugi vowed, his smile growing stronger as he glanced up at Yami's gentle eyes.

"Yes, I suppose only time will tell." Yami finally noticed the way his young charge was looking at him, how close the two of them were sitting and had been for some time, and the flicker of nervous fear passed through him again. He unconsciously leaned back a little and shifted so he was looking out over the ledge again. "What I said was not just to make you feel better, Yugi. I meant it. I know you aspire to be like me, but there are times the reverse is true, as well." He peered over the edge into the darkness far below them, leaning his elbows on his knees. "I'm not nearly as warm and friendly as you are. I still fear people who may try to take advantage of me, or of you, so I keep people at an arm's length. Your friends have been kind enough to accept me as one of them, but until recently, they didn't even realize I was a different person from you. They love you unconditionally, so they had no trouble accepting the changes in you that stemmed from me."

"They know now," Yugi tried to assure him. "You're a good person, Yami, you shouldn't look down on yourself like that."

Yami glanced at him and smiled. "I don't, but thank you. You see? Your heart may have caused you pain this time, but I think you'll agree that you would rather have that pain than have a heart too cold to care."

"Well…now that you mention it…yeah." Yugi drew his knees up to his chest again, and then got up, pacing a little as he fidgeted, his mind uncomfortably rehashing the pain simply because it was brought up again. "It's not like I choose to be this way. It's just…how I am. How I was brought up to be."

"You were raised well," Yami intoned. "Your grandfather is a good man also, and it's good to see his influence lingering on you."

The youngster kicked idly at the lowest step of the staircase that wound upward from their little ledge. "Stupid good heart leading me into this," he grumbled facetiously. "It's times like this I understand why Kaiba builds eight hundred foot walls around himself to keep emotions out. He doesn't want to feel like this, so he makes it so he can't feel anything at all." Yugi glanced over his shoulder to see Yami turned toward him, still sitting on the edge of the platform, just watching and listening. "But that's no way to live."

"You've seen the depth of his hatred and anger," Yami reminded his young companion. "Would you want to be like him?"

"No way," Yugi answered immediately. "Not even if a hell full of evil spirits wanting to get at your power came and tortured me and my friends to get at you. Call me a hopeless romantic…" He climbed up the first steps of the staircase and sat down to face Yami. "…but I still believe that love can overcome anything. Real love, not the stuff that only feels like love because it feels good." His voice dropped, then, and he murmured half into his chest. "I liked feeling good, but…it wasn't love. Not like the kind of love I dream about."

Yami got up and came over to him, crouching down in front of him. "You're certain of this, now?"

Yugi nodded, his eyes swimming with tears that stayed unshed. "The more you and I talk, the more clear it becomes. Not that…what I felt was bad. It wasn't. It just moved too fast, I spent all that time thinking about how good it made me feel without looking at the big picture. And I didn't even talk to you about it. You're a part of me, Yami, and I didn't bother to share that part of my life with you. I shut you out, and that wasn't right. I'm sorry."

The pharaoh's spirit nodded slightly. "Forgiven and forgotten, my friend."

Yugi lifted his head, taking a breath to sober himself and trying to smile. "Maybe you're right. I had to go through this myself, and learn from it. I now know the difference between what I had and what I really want, and I know I don't want to settle for anything less."

Yami raised an eyebrow. "That was quick."

"I've been doing a lot of thinking the past few days. When I didn't want to talk to anybody."

"And what do you want?"

_You_, Yugi wanted to answer, but didn't. He brought his feet up one step so he could rest his chin on his knees while he thought of how to phrase the answer. "Someone who really loves me for me," he said softly. "Someone kind, and strong. Someone who knows me, and doesn't care about my quirks or weirdness, someone who can accept that I have a special destiny that might take me to some scary places." His eyes shifted to Yami, and he smirked. "Someone who doesn't think I'm a dork for playing Duel Monsters," he groused.

Yami laughed lightly. "Who would think that? It's a popular game."

"Oh, lots of people do," Yugi assured him. "Gaming isn't something a lot of 'regular' people do, even if Duel Monsters is huge and people can make lots of money playing on the tournament circuit. Sure, a lot of the kids at school play it, but a lot of them don't, and look down on those who do." He shook his head and smiled. "That's not the point, though. Because of you and the shadow games, Duel Monsters is more important to me than just a game. Anyone who wants to be close to me has got to understand that. And the kinds of people who look down on gamers for playing aren't the kinds of people I want close to me in the first place."

"I'm sure the kind of person you're looking for exists," Yami tried to say, intending to be helpful but starting to fall short on the right words. "You've met many wonderful friends because of the game."

"Yeah, I know. I'm not worried." Yugi studiously kept his gaze from lifting to regard the pharaoh crouched before him, though a faint smile played upon his lips. "In fact, I think I already know such a person. Someone I could…easily see myself falling for, if the circumstance were right."

Yami's eyes flew open wide, and his heart did something strange in his chest. Part of him exulted that the boy might be talking about him, but another part went cold in fear that he meant someone else. And after Bakura, he couldn't be sure if that special someone was a boy or a girl – Yugi apparently was growing to prefer either. "Really?" he managed to stammer after a second or two of gaping silence. "Is it…another one of the duelists you've befriended over time?"

"Well…no, not exactly." Yugi sighed lightly. "I don't really want to go into detail, I don't know if he likes me or even would want to be involved with me."

"You said… 'he.' It's…another boy?"

Yugi looked up sharply, his cheeks flushing red. "Oops," he breathed. "I-I didn't…it just slipped out." He hid his face in his hands until it could stop burning. "Forget I said anything! It's just a…a dream, a thought, I hadn't really expected it to go anywhere."

Yami leaned in a little closer, unable to ignore the reaction. "But there is someone. Someone you think you love."

Yugi lowered his hands and clasped them fearfully in front of himself, peering over them at Yami's piercing gaze. "I don't just think," he murmured. "I know I love him. It may not ever come to anything, but I have to admit it to myself. I'm not going to sit in fear of it any longer. Bakura taught me that much – life is too short to keep these things bottled up and be too afraid to open yourself up to someone in the chance they might hurt you."

"Yugi…" The pharaoh sighed quietly, conflicted. Despite his personal feelings, he had to treat this moment with care. Yugi was finally seeking his advice, or perhaps his approval, and he had to be honest with him. "I don't want you overreacting in the opposite direction. Don't make the same mistake twice, out of some need to protect yourself from despair. Give yourself some time, let yourself heal. I don't want to see you seize upon the first strong feeling to come your way and simply be hurt again. Can you honestly say that what you feel for this person is the true love you're looking for?"

The young man slowly straightened up, meeting the spirit's gaze firmly. "I'm certain. I don't care if he doesn't feel the same way about me, it has to come out. I can take it. It's time I put aside my fears and tell him, or I'll never know if we even have a chance."

Yami's eyes lowered for just a second to Yugi's lips, but he caught himself and focused on his large violet eyes instead. "Are you sure about that, Yugi? I don't want you to do something you're going to regret."

"Yami…" Yugi sighed, looking down at his hands hanging in his lap and the Puzzle dangling between them. "I don't know the right way to say this, so I'll just say it. I…I love you. Okay? There, I said it." He closed his eyes so as not to face the pharaoh's reaction. "You're the one I've been talking about, the one I'm in love with. I've gotten so close to you, you're a part of me. I couldn't stop my feelings for you from turning to this, the stronger our bond has gotten. I can't imagine my life without you now, and it's just like I would want of a…" He balked at the word, but managed to stammer it out because it was the right one. "…a lover. Someone who'll spend their life with me, be my soulmate. That's what you are, Yami. Our souls…they're meant to be together."

He suddenly felt the feather-light touch of fingertips on his cheek, and looked up to see Yami gently brushing aside the long bleached locks that hung beside his face. The barest hint of a smile graced his lips. "Even though you know I can't be with you, as a lover should? You still feel this way?"

"Mhm," Yugi nodded. "I don't care about that. That's not what it is to love someone. Well, it's part of it, but…" He blushed and tried another tactic. "I've felt this way for a while, now, though I've always cared about you, the more I got to know you and the closer we became. It just sort of…felt natural, to love you, because you're so much more than a friend to me. Like I said, it doesn't matter to me if you don't feel the same, I don't expect that with you being a spirit inside me, anything can happen anyway. I can't help the way I feel. I just…like being with you," he said pleadingly. "You're so strong, and gentle…" He blushed again, but held his gaze steady. "…and good-looking. You're different from me, I can see it. You have such…beautiful eyes."

Now it was Yami's turn to blush and look away. "What? Yugi…"

"I notice you haven't said anything yet. About…me being in love with you." Yugi looked nervously down at his hands. "I kept it from you because I didn't know how you'd react, and I didn't want to do anything that would hurt our bond. But…it's time I said something. You deserve to know, if only because I don't want to keep secrets from you."

Yami's gaze returned, though what emotion lay in those smoldering eyes it was hard to say. Inwardly, such relief and joy flooded his heart that he found it hard to form words, realizing that he didn't have to hold anything back anymore. "I have felt our bond grow stronger as well," he said quietly. "I cherish the journey we've taken, from strangers to friends to…companions. Even were I not dependent upon you for my life, you would mean the same to me. But, I've been worried that these feelings were a distraction, that I should not dwell on them lest they be my downfall."

Yugi gave him a timid look. "Are they? A distraction?"

The pharaoh shook his head slowly, his eyes falling closed briefly. "Trying to deny or bury them has proven the real distraction. We make good partners, Yugi, perhaps because we do care about each other so. If this is love, between us, it can strengthen us even further. We could be truly formidable, if our trust and faith in each other had roots in love."

It took a moment for the words to sink into his heart, but when they did, Yugi sat up straight with a look of astonished hope and seized Yami's hands. "You're serious? You…"

"I love you also, Yugi," Yami finally said, smiling.

Yugi let out a small cry and leaped off the step, falling into Yami's waiting arms and hugging him tightly. He slid into the pharaoh's lap, finding himself being held firmly in strong, slender arms. Their identical Puzzles clinked together as they slid apart just enough to gaze into each other's eyes in preface to the inevitable kiss. Yugi had been waiting so long for this, but he was so excited and breathless that he nearly forgot to savor it, to enjoy this first moment of what would be many. As their lips met, Yami thought to himself that it had been a very long time since he'd been physical with anyone, he hoped he hadn't forgotten how to kiss. But Yugi seemed to know enough, despite his awkward lack of dating skills, and proved a ready partner. He tilted his head up just-so and softly received Yami's hesitant kiss, quieting down the moment they touched and simply letting it happen, neither pushing forward too aggressively nor breaking away. Feeling the warm breath on his skin, savoring the softness of his partner's lips, Yami found his instincts taking control and driving his actions. He had never been the tactile type, but suddenly he wanted to touch Yugi, to hold him, kiss him, feel him. This realm of the mind where their joined spirits could commune was the only way for him to experience these sensations, though they were still but shadows of the real thing. At least he was under no delusion that he could ever expect to touch and hold his youthful companion in corporeal arms. This, their spirit-bodies pressing against each other as they just kept kissing each other, was more than enough for him. More than he could have ever hoped for.

When they finally broke apart, Yugi stayed there in Yami's lap, arms around his neck, so he could lean in and rest their foreheads together. "Why didn't you say anything?" he whispered into the space between them.

"As I said," Yami murmured, "I thought these feelings were distracting me from my real purpose. I didn't even want to tell you earlier, I was afraid it would only deepen your pain instead of easing it." He opened his eyes and regarded the youthful face gazing hopefully up into his. "I didn't know how you felt."

"Oh." Yugi blinked innocently. "I guess I was a little too good at keeping it hidden from you." A thought struck him, making him suddenly stare in fearful shock. "Oh no! That means…when Bakura and I were…oh Yami." He hugged the spirit fiercely. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! It must have hurt to know what I was doing, without you…"

Yami closed his eyes and accepted the embrace, feeling the last traces of his worry and anger melting away under such lavish expressions of love. "It's all right. You couldn't have known. I gave you no reason to suspect my feelings, you had every right to pursue love when and where you found it."

"Yeah, but even so…" Yugi lifted his head and looked straight into the pharaoh's elegant eyes. "If I hurt you, I'm sorry."

"It's all right." Yami placed his hands firmly on either side of Yugi's face, unable to stop touching him now that he knew he was free to do so. "It's past. We'll set aside our mistakes and move forward, together."

The young one nodded, and hugged him again. "Together. Just you and me."

They held each other silently for a while, having finally reached the end of so much talking and simply wanting assurance that this moment was real – at least, as real as it could get inside their minds. Yugi rested his chin on Yami's supporting shoulder and closed his eyes, content just to feel those arms around him as he settled astride Yami's lap. The pharaoh laid his cheek against the side of Yugi's head, sighing softly in his ear. An eerie stillness enveloped them, as no other sound could be heard within the Puzzle except for their breathing and the rustle of their clothing, and even then, the rhythm of breath seemed superficial since their bodies were but mental representations and required no oxygen. And yet, Yugi imagined as he sat there he could hear a faint heartbeat, either his or Yami's or both together as one. Eventually, he lifted his head and found himself nose-to-nose with his companion spirit, eyes half-closed and dreamy. "What?" Yami murmured.

"Nothing," Yugi said bashfully, smiling. "I just…never thought being this close to you would be so wonderful."

A fierce blush lit Yami's cheeks, making him drop his gaze. "I would think that you and I have already experienced a level of intimacy no one else could boast, thanks to our connection."

"I know, and I don't take that for granted," Yugi said softly. "Sensing your spirit inside me, with me all the time, is amazing. But, it's a little different than this." He looked down at the way he was sitting, at the closeness of their bodies, and smiled even more strongly. "I know I can always hear you, and sometimes I even think I see you next to me, like a vision, but I've never really gotten to feel you before. Outside of a phantom hand on my shoulder or something."

Yami nodded his understanding. "I see. Is this…close enough to what you experienced with Bakura? What you thought you wanted from him?"

Yugi looked rather embarrassed. "Sort of. I mean…I had never been with anyone before, I hadn't even been kissed before. Having someone want me in that way was like…I don't know how to describe it. It wasn't the love I always dreamed about, but it was still nice. I won't lie, it did feel really good, what we did. We may not have gone all the way, but…it was enough."

"I imagine it must have been," Yami said, his voice deep and quiet as he closed his eyes. "Unfortunately, it's the one thing I can't give you. Your heart may tell you it doesn't matter, that your love for me goes beyond physical attraction, and I don't doubt that. But Bakura gave you a taste of something I don't think you could resist forever. Sooner or later, you will wish that you could share with me what you did with him."

"But…there's got to be something we can do," young Yugi fretted. "After all, you and I just kissed. What about…here?" He looked around at the twisted labyrinth. "I can feel you touching me right now. Whatever this world is, inside the Puzzle, it's so vivid, more vivid than any dream I've ever had. I feel warmth and cold, I can feel your touch, and your breath…"

"Yes, I've noticed the same thing," Yami murmured. "It may be a place inside our minds, and yet, it feels very real."

"What would happen if I…" Yugi blushed furiously, clasping his hands together behind Yami's neck. "If you…made love to me, here? For…for example?"

Yami sighed pensively. "I don't think it would be much more to you than an exceptionally vivid fantasy, Yugi. I know it appears that you and I are together inside a secret world, but it's only in your mind. If you woke up right now, you would find you're still lying in your room, alone."

"That's enough for me," Yugi whispered with his head bowed. "Indulging my fantasies? There's nothing weird or unnatural about that, is there? I'm sure I've probably already dreamed up worse things. I am a teenager, after all."

Yami smoothed a hand over his young self's cheek. "I wouldn't want you to neglect yourself and your life just to retreat into your fantasies," he worried. "I won't hurt you like that. You mean so much to me, Yugi."

"Oh, I won't do that," Yugi promised, finally looking straight at Yami. "I know when it's appropriate to let go and let our minds connect, like this, right now. This is the only way I can be around you and see you, and feel like you're really there. I won't overdo it, I swear."

The pharaoh found himself chuckling at his partner's eagerness. "I believe you, but perhaps it's a bit early to be making promises like that. We've taken but one step in a long journey, Yugi. There's no need to rush into anything. I'm not going anywhere."

Yugi let go of his excitement with a long sigh, smiling shyly. "I suppose you're right. I got a little carried away – but do you blame me? You've just said the one thing to me that I never thought I'd ever hear. My dreams aren't just dreams anymore."

"Just be careful not to build me up so high that I fall short of your expectations," Yami patiently said. "I can't give you the sort of romance you may be thinking of, for despite our closeness, our bond, I am still merely a spirit and chained to this Puzzle. If that's all right with you, then I accept, for I do love you and would like nothing more than to spend what time I can with you." He glanced upward, toward the walls and doors around them. "This place will be our refuge, where we can be together. And, if you do find yourself wanting a greater intimacy with me, perhaps it can be done here. Somehow. We will figure it out, when you're ready."

Yugi leaned forward until he and Yami were close enough for their lips to touch again, lifting an expectant gaze to him. "Maybe," he breathed, "I'm more ready than you think. I'm not a little kid anymore. I'm more mature than I look. I've grown so much lately…"

"I don't doubt that you have," Yami responded, yearning to kiss him as offered but holding back for a moment. "But you're still young and eager. Give it time. I promise you, it will be worth the wait. We both need to figure this relationship out, how it will work, how it will affect your life."

"Okay," Yugi whispered submissively.

Yami smiled, and finally brushed a kiss across his partner's waiting lips. "I'm glad you decided to talk to me," he murmured.

Yugi kept his eyes shut and couldn't stop the thrilled giggle that shimmered in his throat. "Yeah. Something tells me, talking to Joey wouldn't have ended up like this."

The pharaoh's spirit laughed back. "I should hope not. Best friends are one thing…" He met the gaze turning toward him. "But they can't touch what we have."

The tender look in those violet eyes made Yugi smile. "I wouldn't trade it for anything."

In the world of the living, the world of sad reality, Yugi blinked open his eyes to find himself staring at the ceiling in his darkened room. The clouds had given way to night, and he could hear a steady rain drumming on the roof above him. Hours before, he might have thought it the perfect, dreary end to a perfectly dreary day and week, but now, with the ghostly memory of a kiss on his lips, he smiled. He held the Millennium Puzzle carefully in one hand as he sat up and ruffled his hair, finding himself feeling happy and hungry and wondering if his grandfather might be pleased to see him come out of his room. It was about time he got back to normal.

**Author's Note:**

**I figured I'd put out a new chapter for my first review. Still need someone to explain this "beta" thing to me though…**

**Locondra**


	7. Part 7- Little Light of Love

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.**

Part 7

Little Light of Love

As he sat on the edge of a retaining wall sipping at what was left of his soda, Yugi thought to himself that the universe must be taunting him in some kind of karmic retaliation for what went on inside his head. All day long, as he hung out with Joey and Tristan doing their usual geek things, he noticed what seemed to be unusual numbers of happy couples publicly displaying their affection, and it was starting to get on his nerves. It was bad enough when he was just a single highschooler, though he hadn't really cared then and dismissed such people as shameless annoyances. Now, even though he had Yami's love, he had nothing else, and the pharaoh's stern warning at the start of their relationship looked like it was coming back to bite him. The more snuggling and smooching he witnessed in the malls and on the streets, the more he longed for his own share until it became painful to endure. Yet another giggling couple walked past him, making him groan in disgust and roll his eyes. _Do they have to keep parading in front of me? This is hard enough as it is!_

A masculine voice drifted across his mind. "What's the problem, Yugi?"

Yugi sighed as a faint vision of the pharaoh materialized beside him, one of those visions only he could see thanks to their connection. "Nothing," he mumbled, gnawing on the straw from his soda to cover up the fact he might look like he was talking to himself.

"Are you sure?" Yami observed the world from over Yugi's shoulder. "You seem bothered by something."

"No, no, it's all right." The boy looked quickly around to make sure no one was near enough to hear him, but whispered the rest anyway. "Can I visit you tonight? Inside the Puzzle?"

Yami's voice practically purred with good humor. "You're welcome to see me any time, Yugi."

"Yeah, but I don't want to intrude. I want to make sure you know I'm coming, first."

"Fine, then. I will be waiting for you." The vision faded, leaving Yugi alone to watch the crowds again. He managed to catch sight of a pair of schoolmates walking by hand-in-hand and grimaced.

Joey finally returned from wherever he had disappeared to, smacking Yugi in the knee as he walked past. "All right, come on, let's go."

Yugi hopped down off the wall and followed his friend away. "What happened? Did you find it?"

"Yeah, but it wasn't the one I was looking for. No matter." Joey shrugged. "That's enough for me today, I'm beat. Unless you wanted to do anything else?"

Parting with his best buddy now would mean getting to Yami more quickly, Yugi's brain reminded him. "No, I'm kind of bored," he said airily. "I don't mind if we call it a day and head home."

"Even though your grandpa's probably got a pile of chores for you to do," Joey teased with a grin. "If you really want to rush home to that, be my guest. I'll walk with ya."

The boys noisily crashed the game store and hung around for a bit getting underfoot as a means to a long goodbye, but eventually Joey reminded himself to go take care of things at home and left. After all, Yugi did have chores to do, as predicted. But the promise of escaping reality and spending some time alone with the spirit of the Puzzle lent speed to his efforts, and Grandpa Muto marveled at how quickly and diligently his grandson was doing as asked. Blaming some kind of last-minute homework for tomorrow, Yugi excused himself to his room after dinner and closed himself away, sprawling out on his bed without even bothering to change into pajamas. He and Yami had done this several times now, at first only when Yugi had the time between schoolwork and chores, but increasingly more often until they visited almost every night. At least, they had up until exams began a week ago – it was tough to keep his mind awake when he was so busy wearing it out with studying and preparing. Now that exams were over and he had spent the day with Joey wiping their brains clean of all that learning, Yugi could think of no better way to celebrate than to revel in the presence of his spiritual partner. By now he had grown so accustomed to falling into a lucid, meditative state while his mind detached from reality and roamed inside the mystical Millennium Puzzle, he could do it almost without effort. Pushing open the door that separated his mind from Yami's, he found the opposing door standing a crack open, an invitation to enter. Yami sat just inside, on the edge of a stairway, and glanced back with a smile when he heard the soft step on the stone. "There you are," he said. "Everything taken care of?"

"Yep. I'm all done with the housework so I'm all yours." Yugi dropped to a crouch behind Yami and wrapped his arms around the spirit, snuggling him with his cheek against one strong shoulder. Yami chuckled deeply but did not resist. "Oh, I missed this," Yugi sighed.

Yami placed one hand over Yugi's. "You have been rather busy, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but not anymore. For a little bit, anyway." Yugi lifted his head and looked up into the spirit's sly, elegant eyes, which were shifted over his shoulder to regard him. "I was just so tired. Studying takes a lot out of you."

"I could see that." Yami shifted in order to wrap an arm around his partner, who flopped to a seat beside him and leaned against his shoulder. "But I can afford to be patient. It's not like I have anywhere else to be."

"You're not bored in here, are you?" Yugi wondered. "I hadn't thought about it before, but…"

"How could I be bored?" Yami responded. "It's not like this all the time, you know. Only when I'm active, trying to uncover my memories or explore the secrets of the Puzzle. I observe the world through your eyes as well, and when I need rest, I simply become dormant. I don't think I've ever been bored here."

"Oh. That's good," Yugi murmured. "I'd hate to think that this was some kind of prison for you, a place you hated to be."

"I neither like it nor hate it. I've not really thought about it, actually." Yami hugged Yugi to him, ruffling his hand through the youngster's hair. "You come from a world where something always has to be happening, day and night. I'm not accustomed to that, I don't concern myself with needing something to 'do' all the time." He glanced sidelong at his partner. "You're not bored, are you?"

Yugi lifted his head with a little purr. "How could I ever be bored around you?" He stretched his head up and brushed a yearning kiss across the pharaoh's lips. "I like this. Not having to do anything except be with you, talk to you."

"And kiss me," Yami said knowingly.

Yugi grinned. "Well…yeah…"

Yami pulled him even further into his arms, giving him a soft, loving smile before bending his head and kissing him deeply, not letting up until he could feel Yugi tremble and heard the tiny, desperate moan in his throat. Yami opened his eyes slowly and whispered, "I like that, too."

Yugi gasped lightly, sinking further into the strong arms holding him and curling up in the pharaoh's lap. His imagination made it possible for his spirit-body to react exactly as his real body would in the same circumstance; he breathed a little more heavily, and his face felt hot as he lifted his eyes to Yami's beautiful, waiting expression. "You're…really good at that," he whispered back.

"Surprisingly." Yami chuckled lightly. "It's not as if I've gotten a lot of practice. Outside of your visits here to me, that is."

Yugi smiled shyly. "I wasn't sure if it meant you remembered something from your past, if you could remember how to kiss someone so…well."

The pharaoh shook his head slowly, the blond locks framing his face swaying gracefully back and forth. "I remember absolutely nothing about my personal relationships, or even if I had any. It's all blank."

Sympathetic eyes gazed up at him. "You must feel so…alone…"

Yami only smiled, rubbing his hands comfortingly across Yugi's back as he held him. "Not at all. I have you. Since you awakened me, I haven't been alone."

"And you won't be, ever again." Yugi slid his arms around Yami's lithe body and hugged himself into his chest, resting his cheek on the spirit's collarbone. He could feel Yami gently stroking the hair at the back of his neck, and decided he was too content sitting there wrapped up in his companion's arms to even think about talking or doing anything. They sat together for a long time in silence, forgetting that anything else existed outside the realm of the Millennium Puzzle where they could feel each other, breath and warmth and solidity of bodies and limbs, softness of skin, tenderness of lips. Yugi wanted to stay there forever, secure, protected, and loved. Eventually, he stirred enough to lift his head, sharing a warm, lingering look with Yami before they leaned in for another long kiss that started slow and gradually built in intensity. Swept up in the moment, Yugi pushed forward, kissing as hard and as deeply as he knew how, hungering for as much of Yami as he could get. The pharaoh yielded to his companion's pressure and parted his lips just enough, letting him in. The heat and the pleasure only increased further, the younger practically devouring his elder spirit in his eagerness and desperation, breaking off only for a quick breath before diving in again. With his mind a blur of passion, Yugi clutched his true love to him and kissed him insatiably, neither of them willing nor able to stop.

At last, Yami broke away with a breathless groan, blinking his eyes open. "Well. You're rather… enthusiastic tonight."

Yugi slowly let his hands ease from where they were clenched on Yami's shirt. "Have I overstepped my boundaries?" A quick shake of the pharaoh's head was his answer. "I can't help it," he continued softly. "Every little bit of you I can get just makes me want more. I don't want to stop."

Yami's eyes widened slightly. "Really?"

"Mhm," Yugi nodded. "Being with you is more than just being in your presence, because I can sense you with me every minute I'm awake. I've gotten so used to you being there, ready to fuse with me at a moment's notice, it's normal to me now. But that's not why I come here." He bowed his head for a moment and sighed. "You asked me this afternoon if something was wrong. Well…it was just, I kept noticing people in love all around me, being all touchy-feely, and it kept making me think of you."

Yami looked confused. "And that bothers you?"

"Well, no…you see…" A hint of red crept into the young man's cheeks. "What I mean is, when I think of you, I think of…things that I…I want to do with you. The sort of things I can't have, because you can't exist outside of the Puzzle." The blush intensified as he looked sharply away and lowered his voice to a bashful murmur. "I've been thinking about that a lot these days. Fantasizing…"

The pharaoh's brow twitched with surprise. "I see. You fantasize about me?"

Yugi felt as though the skin on his face would burn right off with the force of his blush. "Is that so hard to believe?"

Yami smiled, quite amused by his partner's reaction. "Maybe. You have to remember, this is all new to me. As I don't remember whether I've been in love before, likewise, I don't recall having anyone in love with me. It feels…nice, to be wanted so."

"But do you…do you want…me?" Yugi stammered, shyly lifting his eyes.

Yami brushed a fingertip down his cheek. "Did the way I kissed you not tell you that enough?"

The boy smiled wistfully. "I guess so. This is new to me, too. Bakura and I…" He caught himself and changed the wording, not wanting to remind himself nor his partner of his past relationship. "…what I felt then never even came close to what I feel now, when I'm with you."

A shadow of seriousness came over Yami for a moment. "Bakura offered you what I cannot."

Yugi squeezed his eyes tightly shut, wishing that his fling with Bakura would just go away. "I already told you, I don't care about that. As long as I know that you love me, that's all I need."

"No, it isn't." Yami placed one fingertip beneath Yugi's chin and forced him to look up and meet his eyes. "You have fantasies of being with me. You want more from me, I can see it in your eyes, and feel it when you kiss me. You don't want to stop there."

Unable to look away, Yugi's eyes swam with emotion. "I want to give myself to you," he whispered desperately.

Yami's brow furrowed in pity. "You have already shared yourself with me to the depths of your soul. I can't have your body. What more can you give me?"

"But I haven't shared everything of my soul with you." Yugi sat back a little, placing a hand over his own heart. "Even though there are times when we bond, and you can act through me, our minds and our souls are still separate. That's why we can still talk to each other, and have dreams and fantasies that the other doesn't know about. If you and I…if we…if we can be together, then I would feel like I'm opening up the last part of my soul that you haven't touched yet. The one thing I've still kept to myself, privately."

The pharaoh's spirit only sat there for a while, silently absorbing the words and pondering them. Yugi remained in his arms, his hand falling into his lap as he waited for a reaction. In truth, Yami feared the powerful emotions that threatened to break through his walls and smother him, should he open himself to true intimacy with his companion. He was already responsible for nearly getting Yugi killed or destroyed several times, not to mention what the boy's friends had gone through just for being close to him. His heart had finally surrendered to love, and it was wonderful, but he was still holding back, afraid to immerse himself completely in the unwavering, unconditional love Yugi held out to him simply because it was so much more powerful and consuming than anything else he ever felt. He feared losing himself in it, feared the pain and anger and jealousy should he ever find that love taken away from him again, should someone with flesh-and-blood arms to hold Yugi come along and prove more attractive than intangible spiritual connections with himself. It was then he realized, despite what he had said, that Yugi was right – they hadn't shared everything with each other yet. He had hardly shared anything with Yugi except his acceptance of love. He looked down at the boy in his arms, with the downcast face and deep, expressive eyes, and found the heart within him clenching like a fist at the thought that he could actually be afraid of this person, this soul who had become so close to him, who had given up his body and even his life for the sake of the spirit of the Puzzle. It could not go on. He had to let go of his fear and open himself to Yugi, or all his grand advice about trust and bonding and sharing would be a waste.

Yami lifted a hand to cup Yugi's cheek, and realized it was trembling. Violet eyes turned upward toward him when the touch registered. "Then, this desire of yours," he murmured uncertainly, "it can't be purely physical. Since I have no physical presence."

Yugi shook his head. "I've always believed that…such a thing should only be shared between two people who really loved each other, who trusted each other with their hearts. I don't think I could let anyone be that close to me unless I truly loved them. And I love you, Yami."

"I love you also, Yugi," the spirit said quietly, meaning it more than ever. "I have loved you for a long time, and even desired you, but I kept it all hidden for far too long. These emotions are very strong, sometimes I think too strong for a spirit like me to handle. But by locking them away, I lose everything you have helped me to find. I won't do that any longer." He rested his hands on Yugi's small shoulders, giving him as square and honest a look as he could. "It's time I let you be close to me."

Though he didn't quite understand the pharaoh's sudden burst of serious sentiment, Yugi nodded his acceptance. He thought Yami had already entrusted him with everything he possibly could, what with most of his memory still imprisoned, but if there was more he wanted to share, Yugi would willingly take it. "Wait," he said, seizing on one small word among the confession, "you…desired me?"

Yami found himself smiling again. "Of course I do. You're adorable."

A blush as fierce as ever lit the youngster's face. "Yami!"

"What?" He chuckled deeply. "You're a perfectly beautiful young man. And I don't just say that because you look a little like me."

Yugi ruffled a hand through his wildly spiked hair. "A little?"

"Hey. There are differences. You've noticed."

"Yeah, I have." Yugi bashfully regarded the pharaoh sitting entwined with him, from his face to his toes. "You're taller than I am. And…" He coughed in embarrassment to be saying the word. "…sexier."

Yami blushed just as powerfully. "What?"

"You are." Yugi drew one hand slowly down the pharaoh's bared arm. "You're kind of muscular, thin…you've got the kind of body I wished I had. Or maybe I will have, if I ever grow up a little."

"You do have it," Yami encouraged, leaning down to kiss him gently on the cheek. "It's there, it just hasn't been brought out yet. You're a maturing young man, and I'm quite surprised that the girls aren't all over you yet."

Though he was still blushing like mad, Yugi giggled and leaned in closer. "I don't know. I'm starting to think the boys are smarter than the girls, since they're the ones all over me."

Yami shared his laughter, wrapping his arms more tightly around the young one and pulling him into his chest until the Puzzles around their necks protested with a clink. "Maybe so. But the answer to your question is yes. I do desire you, Yugi, and what you want of me is rather…enticing. I admit I haven't thought much about it, because I didn't know if it was possible. But, considering the way I felt myself respond when you kissed me so deeply tonight, I believe it can be done."

Yugi's eyes widened as he sat up excitedly. "Really?"

"I promise you, I'll look into it. Not tonight, though." Yami gave him a quick kiss on the lips. "We've talked so long, it's getting late. And you have school tomorrow."

The boy groaned. "You had to remind me. Can't I just stay here all night? It's sort of like sleeping, isn't it?"

"I don't think so. You won't be very well rested." The pharaoh's smile deepened, growing almost sensual. "But you don't have to leave just yet if you don't want to."

Yugi threw his arms around his companion's neck and kissed him hard. "Good," he murmured when he paused for breath, "because I don't think I've gotten enough of you to last me through the day, yet."

The subject did not come up again for a while, though Yugi and Yami resumed their habit of visiting nearly every night to spend time together and indulge in gratuitous tactile contact. This time of peace with no evil spirits breathing down their necks nor shadow games threatening to waken the dark past gave them far too much free time, which they spent simply growing closer, solidifying the relationship. It had taken Yugi a few weeks of studiously thinking about it to accept himself that he was more in love with the spirit of the Puzzle than he had ever been with any living human, so now, he was able to go around every day with a cheery smile on his face, thinking privately of Yami and marveling that he finally had the soulmate he had been longing for. His happiness was not lost on his friends, but they merely thought he had done well on his exams or gotten some cool Duel Monsters cards, something that made him happy after that brief bout of depression some time ago. Yugi didn't think it right to tell them the real reason for his joy, not yet. He wasn't sure how accepting they would be. After all, embarking on an intimate relationship with a disembodied spirit housed within a Millennium Item was not exactly normal, even for him.

One evening, upon pushing open the door that linked the two separate minds, Yugi gave a start to see Yami standing there in the corridor waiting for him, something he usually only did under anxious or desperate circumstances. Though his face was serious, he didn't seem alarmed. "Yami," the younger one greeted him. "Is something the matter? I'm not late, am I?"

Yami cracked a smile. "No, it's nothing like that. I merely wanted to meet you here." The smile glowed in his eyes. "I have a surprise for you."

"Oh?" Yugi perked up. "What kind of surprise?"

"You'll have to see it for yourself," the pharaoh said, turning and holding out a hand to invite his partner into the realm of the Puzzle.

Yugi followed willingly, though he peered curiously into the labyrinth as they entered. It didn't look any different, so he wasn't sure what was meant by "seeing it." "This is all very mysterious, Yami," he noted. "What's going on? Just tell me!"

Yami stepped up beside him and took his hand, still smiling in his peaceful way. "I found a room inside the Millennium Puzzle that didn't exist here before," he explained. "It's entirely unlike any of the other chambers here."

Yugi's eyes flew wide open. "A new room?" he repeated. "What is it? What's it like?"

"Come. Let me show you." The pharaoh only had to tug slightly at the hand in his to get Yugi to join him, bringing him through several dark corridors and down a few levels. He knew the way without pausing, leading Yugi to surmise that he had visited this room several times just to make sure it wasn't a one-time appearance to trick him. The path was not confusing at all, but rather straight and common compared to the rest of the Puzzle. Ahead of them, a wall rose up to signal a dead end to the corridor, but warm light spilled from a wide doorway to the right. Yami paused just before entering. "This is it. This is the room I discovered a few days ago."

They passed through an arched doorway into a spacious, tiled room lit dimly by torches and candles. Unlike the rest of the passages of the Puzzle's labyrinthine interior, it had a smooth, polished look, with elegantly carved and painted furniture and friezes, appearing as a palace rather than a dungeon. Yugi let out a little gasp as he looked around. The beautiful white stone comprising the walls reflected the torchlight and gleamed like ice, inlaid with jet and gold. The décor was clearly Egyptian, but to Yugi, it looked nothing like what he had seen in museums or school textbooks on ancient history. It was so clean, so sharp and regal, not overdone at all. It was as if the pharaoh had never slumbered for five thousand years – the room had an air of being lived in. "You just…found this place, all of a sudden?" Yugi asked his companion in awe.

Yami had his back to him, as he walked slowly across the room toward a large window set in the far wall. Black night lay beyond it. "Yes. It's strange. I know this place…" he said in a hushed voice. "This is the pharaoh's chambers…my chambers."

Yugi looked sharply at him, daring to smile in hope. "You remember it?"

"Mostly." Yami looked out the window, and his shoulders heaved in a sigh. Yugi came up beside him to find that there was nothing out there to look at, no buildings, no landscape, only a half-moon in the flat black sky. "You see," the pharaoh pointed out, "there is a limit to my memory, still. But this room came back to me." He turned and leaned on the windowsill, a faint smile reawakening on his elegant face as he beheld the room. "Perhaps because I wanted a place to come with you, a safe place, warm, comfortable. Not like the rest of the Puzzle's chambers. Suddenly, I remembered my room. It was the only place I could go and not be disturbed, not even by servants or priests if I didn't want them around."

"Really? Wow." Yugi smiled up at him. "Maybe you're right, all you had to do was want to remember."

Yami chuckled deeply. "If that's all it took, I would have long since regained all of my memories, Yugi. But, I believe that did play some part in it." He laid a hand over one of Yugi's, glancing at him. "I wanted this place for you. The Puzzle's world is so dark and cold. I didn't want to ask you to come here, to see me, unless I could make you comfortable."

"Aw, that's sweet of you, Yami," Yugi said shyly. "But you know I'd come here to see you even if we did have to sit around by those weird stairways and stuff. I don't care."

"You're too kind." Yami gave him a bright smile, and then nodded toward the rest of the room. "Go ahead, take a look around."

Yugi hesitated for a moment, but then straightened up and crossed the room, his eyes raised in wonder at the vivid Egyptian murals painted and carved along the walls. There was a stark efficiency to the room's furnishings, as if the pharaoh had stopped just short of lavishing himself with excessive collections of wealth. A finely-carved Hounds and Jackals board sat on one of the low tables, and many of the implements laying out on the mirrored vanity bore jeweled handles. Sheer draperies of silk hung from the tall mahogany posts of the bed, which were carved on the tops into jackal's heads holding the draperies in their teeth. The room was clearly divided into a sitting area and the pharaoh's absolutely-private sleeping quarters, though nothing physically separated the two. It was merely a matter of how the furniture was arranged. Yugi reached out to touch the bed's curtains, running the delicious silk through his fingers. "Wow, it's all so…royal," he breathed. "I have no problem believing this place belonged to you. It's a pharaoh's palace, all right."

"It always felt a little too…opulent, to me," Yami demurred. "But in Egypt, kings were revered on the level of gods, and even if the people suffered under droughts, floods, or God monsters invading and destroying their homes, they expected a certain level of decorum out of their pharaoh. I could no sooner have shed these pointless trappings and walked in the streets in common clothes than make the Nile flow backwards."

Yugi laughed. "It reminds me of…hmm, the time Grandpa and I went on a real vacation, and they lost our room reservation so to make up for it, the hotel gave us one of the fancy suites for the price of a regular room. It was so pretty, I didn't want to touch anything, but it was expected of us to actually use it, since we were guests." He couldn't stop touching the silky drapery, idly caressing it as he thought. "But I got used to it. I mean, as long as I had to have it, I figured I may as well enjoy it."

Yami chuckled again. "Yes, that was what I did. I never took advantage of my position, but I accepted the beautiful things that craftsmen and tradesmen were so willing to create on my behalf. That bed especially." He left the window and came over to Yugi's side, gazing up at the jackals atop the bedposts. "The wood was a gift from the Middle East. One of my young servants' father was a wood-carver, and shaped it at my request. I distinctly remember the look of shock on his face at the pile of gold he was paid for his services." He smiled up at the jackals, and then realized what he had just said, sobering instantly. "I…remember…"

"You do? That's great!" Yugi seized his hand in excitement. "You see? It's starting to come back to you. Maybe not the parts you need to remember the most, but every little bit counts."

Yami nodded, giving the hand a squeeze. "You're right. And I have you to thank for it."

"Aw, I haven't done anything," Yugi said with a blush.

"Yes you have." Yami pulled him closer, clasping his hands and bending down to whisper in his ear. "All of this started when you told me you wanted to be with me, when you said you dreamed of giving yourself to me. I couldn't ask for such a thing of you before, I couldn't accept such a beautiful gift offered in the darkness. You deserve better."

The sensual murmur only made Yugi blush more fiercely, his heart quickening. "I…I hadn't really thought of that," he breathed, lifting his eyes to Yami's face. "I'm honored that you wanted to…make a nice place for us." His gaze drifted to the regal bed, covered in smooth, white linen and shrouded in silk. "So, you…want to share this bed with me."

"Only when you're ready. I know it is just within our minds, but…it's still momentous. I won't push you."

Yugi returned his gaze to Yami, straight into his eyes, in a most serious and acquiescent way. "I'm ready," he said softly. "It's all I've been able to think about for days. I want to do it…" He caught himself blushing and smiled faintly. Yami thought it positively adorable. "I want you to have me. You already know me inside and out, you have my heart and share my body. I want you to have every last part of me. This is the only thing you don't have yet…you've never known my 'intimate' thoughts."

"That's because they are one of few things that are truly yours, and not mine to intrude upon," Yami pointed out. "But joining with me in this way, in this realm of the mind, is as intimate as it can get. Without being able to touch you physically, this is the last and greatest way I can share myself with you." His dark eyes grew serious for a moment. "At least, what there is of me to share."

Yugi gave a little whine of sympathy and seized Yami around the waist, hugging him tightly. "It's okay," he assured the taller pharaoh. "I love you just as you are, Yami. Even if you can't remember everything about your life, it doesn't matter. You're already complete, to me."

Yami gave a soft sigh and rested his hands on the thin shoulders of his young love. "Thank you, Yugi."

They stood there together for a moment while Yugi mustered his courage, so he could lift his head and meet his companion's eyes despite the thoughts racing in his head that made him want to blush even more. He swallowed hard and faced Yami. "So…you…are you ready? Because I don't want to rush into anything if you're not…"

Yami chuckled softly. "It's all right, Yugi. I'm nervous too."

"You are?"

"I know in principle, what to do. But I've never done it, either. Not that I can remember. I think it's natural for us to be a little apprehensive." The pharaoh let his hands drift lower, down Yugi's arms and around his back. "I don't see a reason to wait until another time, if we have both been thinking about it and this room appeared in my memory as a result. But, we can move slowly."

"Yeah," Yugi nodded, comforted by the confession that his lover was just as nervous as he. "I like that idea." He glanced around the room once more, as if it had more to tell him about the pharaoh or their connection. "Are you sure…it can be done? We can really…" More stammering and blushing, but it had to be said. It was the only way to break the ice. "…make love, here?"

"There is only one way to find out." Yami raised an eyebrow. "We must simply try it."

Yugi blinked at him, astonished. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He smiled. "You don't seem nervous. You're always so…controlled. Like you know what you need to do and you're just going to do it."

"Just because I can hide my fears doesn't mean I don't have them," Yami said wryly. "You'd be surprised. It's actually taken me some time to accept the idea, to understand what it is I want and how to meet your needs."

"What?" Yugi frowned slightly in confusion. "But…why? I thought…I thought you desired me."

"I do. But it's not so simple." Yami gazed down at his questioning young love and sighed, realizing that if he had been serious about truly letting Yugi be close to him and share everything with him, he could hold no secrets back, not even the painful ones. He hoped this would not be the end of their visit tonight, but still took a deep breath to begin. "Yugi…I'm not always the strong, noble pharaoh you expect me to be. I have weaknesses, too. I've been foolish, and there is no excuse for it."

The boy's brow furrowed even further. "What do you mean? Yami…"

Yami's eyes closed. "My greatest weakness right now lies in precisely what you want of me, what we both want of each other. You want to make love to me, to give yourself to me. But I fear that it will not be enough, that without a physical touch, I can only fall short of your expectations. And then, I might lose you to someone who can offer you what I cannot."

Yugi shook his head furiously. "That's not going to happen! I don't want anyone else, I just want you! My heart is the key to the rest of me, I won't just give my body to anyone who can touch it. Only you have my heart, Yami. Please understand!"

"I do," the pharaoh said quietly, remaining still with his arms around the young one. "But that doesn't mean I can't fall victim to my fears and petty jealousies. It's all right, Yugi. You've opened my eyes, you've helped me to see where I was wrong. I won't push you away. You have my heart as well, and with it comes the rest of me, if you're willing to have it."

Yugi met his eyes, understanding at last and giving a small nod. "I am. I'm…glad you're able to push past your fears." He squeezed his arms around Yami. "What…were you jealous of? Or is that just a hypothetical thing?"

Yami made a pained face and blushed. "No, I…I was jealous when you and Bakura first came together. I didn't want to believe that I was capable of such a thing, but…it's true." He gave Yugi a hopeful look, wishing for forgiveness. "I thought I would never be able to have you like that. And I'm afraid at first that may have colored my judgment of whether you and Bakura should have been together."

Yugi gazed sadly at him, finally seeing how deeply his indiscretion had hurt his companion spirit. "Then it's probably a good thing I didn't ask you, then."

"Probably." Yami placed his hands gently on either side of Yugi's face, looking into his eyes for signs of a negative reaction. "After that, I…I needed time to heal, to see your love for what it is and accept that you want to be with me. I know better, now. Can you forgive my weakness?"

"Of course," Yugi said immediately, looking up at Yami with an expression of pure tranquility. "I don't think it's a weakness at all. It's only natural. We just have to promise not to do that to each other again."

A relieved smile broke out on Yami's face. He had no further words to say, and did the only thing he could think of – he leaned down and kissed Yugi powerfully, eager for the feel of those soft lips against his. Yugi clutched him tightly around the waist and kissed back, glad to feel the change in the air that signaled that both of them were truly ready. Yami dropped his arms around Yugi's shoulders and caught him up, pulling him as tightly into the kiss as he could until they were both moaning and gasping for breath – and still they didn't stop. Though it seemed silly, the pharaoh wanted only to prove by his actions that his words were not in vain, that he meant it when he spoke of love and trust and desire. He finally understood Yugi not wanting to stop at a kiss, because he felt the same now, and would do anything to please his young love. He kissed him until he could feel Yugi melt in his arms, needing to pull back for breath. Neither of them felt the need to speak as they stood for a moment relishing the connection, violet eyes and tender smiles focused on each other as they slowly disengaged in preparation for the next move. Yugi lowered his gaze demurely, silently giving his partner permission to proceed. Gently smiling in acceptance, Yami deftly unbuckled the collar around Yugi's neck and pulled it away, reaching up to smooth one hand over his bared throat. "You shouldn't wear these all the time," the pharaoh murmured as Yugi's eyes closed in rapture at the feel of the soft caress. "You have such a nice neck, you shouldn't hide it."

"Yeah, but I like the way it makes me feel," Yugi said quietly, lifting his eyes to Yami with a bit of a smirk. "They don't really let you express yourself in school, it's about all I can get away with."

Yami dropped the collar on the floor and continued to trace his fingertips up and down the line of Yugi's graceful neck, holding his gaze. "And how does it make you feel?"

Yugi leaned forward a little, tilting his head upward to let the pharaoh's hands have free access. "Kind of…sexy," he breathed, blushing a little at the word coming off his lips. "And tough. I know, it doesn't seem like me, but…I like that style."

Yami chuckled deeply. "I see. Is that why you wear the Millennium Puzzle on a chain now?" He hooked the chain with a finger to make it jingle in proof.

Yugi chuckled back. "No, that's for security. A chain is stronger than a cord. But…it does kind of work with my style, doesn't it?"

They smiled at each other for a moment, Yami still brushing Yugi's neck with his fingers, and then leaned in for another kiss. Feeling the strong, delicate hands encircling his neck, teasing his throat and up behind his ears, Yugi couldn't stop the small moan of pleasure that whispered out over his lips. Yami broke off the kiss shortly, instead bestowing small kisses on Yugi's brow and eyelids, as if blessing him with each one. Yugi's hands clenched into fists on his shirt, particularly as Yami lowered his head and began to kiss along the neck he professed to like so much, slowly and gently. It was such an exquisite feeling, for a moment Yugi thought as he tilted his head back that perhaps he should listen to Yami's suggestion and leave the collar off for a while. Warm hands and warm lips on his skin, that mouth brushing over the spot where his racing pulse could be felt…

Yami murmured quietly in his young companion's ear. "Is this…enjoyable? Am I pleasing you?"

"Yes, oh yes…" Yugi whimpered, his eyes opening to regard Yami's delicate look. "Don't stop. Please."

Yami smiled in amusement. "All right. I was just concerned. You got quiet all of a sudden."

"That's because I'm at a loss for words," Yugi quickly assured him. "You…you take my breath away."

The pharaoh slipped his arms around Yugi's lithe body and pulled him close. "I see. Just promise me you will tell me if anything I do doesn't meet your approval."

Yugi rested his hands on Yami's firm chest, sighing contentedly. "I'm sure I won't have to."

Smiling kindly, Yami reached to Yugi's neck once more and took hold of the chain of his Puzzle, beginning to lift it over his head. "Wait," Yugi worried. "Can you…do that? What happens if we take off the Millennium Puzzle? Won't it break the bond between us or something?"

"Yugi," the pharaoh patiently explained, "the Puzzle you and I both wear here, along with anything else on us, is only a representation. We are essentially inside the real Millennium Puzzle, where our minds are fused. Believe me, I wouldn't have proposed we meet here and…do…what we intend to, if removing the Puzzle would pose either of us any danger. Besides." He smirked and chuckled. "Which of us wears the real Puzzle, hm?"

Yugi looked down at the identical image of the Puzzle around Yami's neck. "Oh, good point," he sheepishly laughed. "That's right, I remember now. Whatever I'm wearing on the outside, whether I have the Puzzle around my neck or not, you're wearing the same thing in here." His face took on a slightly confused shade. "Can we actually take anything off, then? I-I don't know how this whole mind thing works."

"There's only one way to find out." Yami completed his move, carefully lifting the chain over Yugi's head and wild hair. The chain jingled merrily as he reverently cradled the pyramid-shaped pendant in his hand and looked closely at it. "You see?" he purred. "Nothing changed. You and I will be fine."

"Okay," Yugi giggled, letting go of Yami so he could step over to one of the tables and lay the Puzzle down. While he was there, he also took off his own Puzzle, setting them side-by-side. The twin Puzzles gleamed in the dim torchlight as if they knew what they were about to witness with those mystical Eyes inscribed on their fronts. The pharaoh turned slowly back toward his partner, the same knowing gleam in his elegant eyes. A small gasp of wonder caught in Yugi's throat as he beheld the sultry, smoldering look being directed at him. He loved Yami, their hearts and spirits had been entwined for so long now, but he was beginning to realize how much he _wanted_ him. That lean, tough body, those graceful hands, those gorgeous eyes. He wanted to wrap his arms around the slender pharaoh and feel that firm chest against his, run his hands over soft, pale, naked skin… Yugi shook his head, realizing how far his thoughts had wandered, leaving him staring at Yami. But Yami hadn't noticed, or at least hadn't cared, as he slowly glided back across the palatial room to Yugi and stopped in front of him. Yugi glanced up into deep, tender eyes reflecting the firelight. "So," he began, somewhat nervously. "Um…now what?"

Yami tentatively took one of the youngster's hands in his. "What do you want?" he murmured.

Yugi gave a whispery sigh. Such a loaded question! He closed his eyes as he answered dreamily, "I want you to touch me…I can just imagine your hands on me and I…I want it so much."

He felt a light tug on his hand, and looked to see Yami turning toward the bed, towing him along. "I can do that," he said in a low voice. "In fact, I want to do that. I want to know everything about you, Yugi, from your head to your heels."

A shiver of delight passed through Yugi, making his whole body flush hot. The anticipation made him forget his concerns about any differences in how their spirit-bodies inside their fused minds ought to behave, he felt exactly as he would in the real world down to the racing of his heart and the ache deep in the pit of his abdomen. Nervous and impatient at the same time, he decided to let Yami lead, now that the pharaoh had regained his confidence in himself and his feelings and seemed inclined to initiate this moment of moments. "Please," Yugi found himself saying. "Anything. I'm yours, Yami."

"You really do wish to give yourself to me," the ancient spirit observed. He faced Yugi once again, though now the youngster's back was to the bed, and stepped as close as he could so their bodies touched temptingly. "I accept, and you'll have me in return. I promise you."

Yugi looked up to him with a small gasp. "Oh…yes. Gladly, Yami. I…I forgot. This is your first time, too." He found arms encircling him again, and laid his hands on the wiry muscles of Yami's upper arms, delighting in the feel. "You…know what to do?"

"Yes," Yami nodded. "It's mostly common sense, but…there is some instinct guiding me. Perhaps another buried memory, I can't tell. But, I don't have to think about it." He reached up behind Yugi and parted the sheer curtains that hung around the bed. "We will simply indulge in one another, and let it happen. All right?"

"O-okay." Yugi met the kiss bending towards him, his hands sliding up to Yami's shoulders and then around his neck as the pharaoh leaned in, his own hands roaming lower behind Yugi. With their lips still pressed hard to each other's, Yami clasped his hands together beneath his lover's ass and picked him up off his feet, taking one step forward to lift him onto the edge of the bed without breaking the kiss. Yugi tensed against him, his excitement and apprehension doubling as he considered where he was now, and the ramifications of it. _We're really going to do this! Oh…_ He tilted his head back with a gasp, settling more comfortably onto the bed with his feet dangling over. Yami stood patiently before him, letting him decide when to continue, resting his hands on Yugi's slim waist. Yugi gazed up at his companion for a moment before reaching to the collar around his neck, wanting to free him just as he had done. Yami closed his eyes and lifted his chin to allow it, breathing a quiet sigh of pleasure when the collar fell away and exposed his neck to cool air and soft fingertips. Yugi traced down his throat and over his collarbone, stopping at the edge of his shirt. "You really are…beautiful," he whispered.

Yami slid his hands down Yugi's thighs. "Thank you," he quietly said, smiling in that way that made his eyes gleam. "I'm honored that you think so." He took a step back, then, untucking his shirt and pulling it swiftly over his head to expose his lean, muscled body. Yugi could only sit there and stare, unused to seeing the pharaoh like this. The golden firelight played teasingly over the planes of his chest and stomach, defining every muscle with shadow and highlight, turning him into some sort of god in tight jeans. Yami tossed aside the black shirt and stepped up between Yugi's knees again, his touch gliding lightly along the boy's legs to his hips. "You see me now, as I am," he murmured. "Is this what you want?"

A young lifetime of chasing girls flew completely out the window. Yugi hesitantly reached to touch the chest displayed before him, as if Yami were once again nothing more than an ethereal vision that would yield like fog to his fingertips. Instead, he met warm, smooth flesh, and saw a smile awaken on the pharaoh's lips at the feel of his caress. "Yes," Yugi finally managed to answer. "Oh…yes…"

Yami gave him a moment to just touch and admire before leaning down and pressing a quick kiss to Yugi's forehead. "Allow me to do just one thing, and we can begin," he said kindly, stepping back.

A haze of wonder and anticipation still clouded Yugi's mind, rendering him unable to properly react until Yami had gone around the end of the bed and over to the regal vanity against the far wall. "What, what is it?" he asked.

Yami hunted around the bejeweled implements and, to his surprise, found exactly what his instinct told him to look for. He didn't have time to ponder what that meant, though, he merely picked up the small vial from among a collection of similar containers and pulled out the stopper. Of his senses, only scent and taste were muted or weak inside this world of the mind, but just enough remained from his incomplete memory to tell him that he had what he wanted. He gave it a satisfied nod and brought it with him back to the bed, setting the vial on the ivory stand near the head of the bed. "We may need that later," he answered his young love. "Granted, our bodies here are not physical, but considering that they react in the same way a corporeal body would, we ought to treat them as if they were real."

Yugi sat back with his weight on his hands, watching Yami over his shoulder as he stalked around the bed and returned to where the curtains were parted to let them both climb inside. "I'm not sure I understand."

"You will soon enough." Yami paused only to pull off his socks and then swept the sheer curtain aside with his hand, making room to sit down beside Yugi. "I don't know why, but my instincts are telling me to expect this. And I don't like to ignore my instincts."

"Oh, of course. I trust your instincts, too." Yugi looked away shyly, finding it hard to make himself do what his inner spirit was screaming for. "You'll…be gentle with me, right? Because…I'm not sure what it'll feel like. I don't know if I'll like it."

Yami sidled closer and ran his hand through Yugi's hair, brushing his bangs back from his face. "If you don't, I will stop. Anything you want, you must simply tell me."

"Okay." Yugi looked up into Yami's hopeful face, finding the courage at last to move from his comfortable spot on the edge of the bed. He scooted back enough and laid down, stretching himself invitingly along the length of the bed with his arms over his head, holding the spirit's gaze the entire time. Yami crawled up alongside him, letting the curtain fall back to enclose them in a dim, gauzy world of their own. Yugi gave a little nervous laugh, completely thrilled to be where he was but unable to shake the fear born of his inflated expectations. It was only momentous because he wanted it to be so, but he preferred it to reducing this encounter to some meaningless hot coupling of bodies. As long as his spiritual body continued to shiver and heat in excitement, as intensely as his real body would, he was going to treat this in the same way he would with a physical partner – and that meant understanding that he was giving himself to the person he loved with all his soul. Yami laid next to him on his side, watching the young one's face grow gradually solemn and willing as he accepted that he had laid himself out for this reason. Seeing that he was ready again, Yami bent his head and kissed Yugi deeply, gliding one hand over his stomach and sneaking up under his shirt to lie flat against his skin. Yugi whimpered into the kiss, his body arching subtly toward the touch roaming across his chest and abdomen. The soft sound encouraged Yami to keep pressing further, stroking Yugi's lips with his tongue and then slipping inside, his hand continuing to trace wide, sweeping circles beneath the boy's shirt. Yugi returned the kiss as fiercely as he could, though the sensual touch was driving him insane and making it hard to keep his concentration. His hands, flung into the collection of bolsters and pillows above him, involuntarily clenched into fists. Yami gradually pulled away and began to kiss more of his lover, his cheek, his throat, his neck, his ear, slowly and with relish, until Yugi laid there gasping desperately for breath. "You weren't kidding about wanting to know every bit of me," he moaned.

The pharaoh tilted his head up enough to let his lips graze across Yugi's neck. "There's so much to know," he murmured. "Having you to myself like this, I hardly know where to begin."

Yugi gazed at him through half-closed eyes and smiled. "Whatever you're doing, don't stop. It's so…good…"

Chuckling to himself, Yami pushed himself up and took hold of the hem of Yugi's sleeveless shirt, receiving no resistance as he pulled upward to remove it. Yugi even shifted his shoulders and arms to help, sitting up a bit to catch his breath as he watched Yami toss the black shirt aside. It hit the silken curtain and fell down over the edge of the bed. The pharaoh's spirit regarded the rippling curtain for a moment. "Hm. It looks like there are going to be clothes strewn everywhere in here. Maybe I should have rethought the drapery."

Startled, Yugi blinked at him, and then burst out laughing. Yami grinned back, glad to see his remark had the intended effect on his young lover, getting him to relax. "No way," Yugi said brightly as he laid back down, smoothing his hands over the soft blankets. "I like it. It's…romantic."

Yami stretched out alongside him again, curling his arms around him. "I see, now. You really are a hopeless romantic at heart."

Yugi smiled coyly up as he wrapped his arms around the pharaoh's shoulders. "I guess I am," he said with a little laugh. "I believe in all those lofty and completely unattainable ideals."

"They're not completely unattainable," Yami said encouragingly. "Look at where you are now."

The coy smile turned even more dreamy. "In the arms of the one I love?"

"And that's only the beginning." Yami pulled him closer and kissed him again, catching him up so that their bare chests came into contact. The sensation made Yugi heave a long sigh of delight and kiss back all the harder, splaying his hands flat across Yami's back and holding him tightly. Yami began to roam lower, pressing firm, hot kisses to his partner's throat, collarbone, and then chest. Yugi's sighs became light cries, his hands moving into Yami's wild hair out of need to cling to something while shivers of pleasure rippled through him. The pharaoh settled with his arms around Yugi's waist and spent a good while covering his chest and stomach in kisses, enjoying every little reaction his handiwork provoked – every breathless sigh, every whimper, every twitch of Yugi's slender body beneath him. He traveled the lines of the young one's muscles with his lips, moving to the flat, solid center of his chest and then slowly to one side. Yugi sucked in his breath sharply at the feel of Yami's warm, wet lips encircling his nipple, and laid there gasping as mouth and tongue caressed him relentlessly. He glanced down to the spirit lying half on top of him, lapping sensuously at him, and gave a low moan as he felt his body respond with a clear sign of his desire, a certainty that their spirits could indeed make love to each other inside the world of the Puzzle. Yami felt the hardness against him and lifted his head. "Is that…? Yugi…?"

Yugi clenched a fist in Yami's hair without thinking. "You're…you're really turning me on," he groaned under his breath, letting his head fall back into the pillows, eyes closing. "How can this be…real?"

Yami smiled to himself and stretched to kiss Yugi's trim stomach. "It's as real as I am," he murmured encouragingly. "Your body knows it. You don't have to think about it. Just trust me." He hesitated for a moment, and then reached to undo the button of Yugi's jeans. That got the young one's attention, making him look up sharply. Yami only continued in a slow and gentle manner, simply resting his hand on the front of Yugi's jeans and feeling the hard sensation beneath. "This…means that you want me, and that feels wonderful to me."

"Of course I want you." Yugi could hardly move, though he wished for the hand on him to do more than just lay atop his opened fly. He blinked absently at the canopy above them. "I've wanted this for so long…"

The pharaoh pushed himself up and reclined beside Yugi again, sliding his hand across the boy's bare chest and roaming over every inch of exposed skin until Yugi was practically purring, his head falling against Yami's shoulder. Yami traced the curves of his shape with light fingertips, doing his best not to tickle as he glided over Yugi's ribs and swirled delicately around his navel. He had always been able to see Yugi's physical form anytime he liked, through his own eyes, but this was the first time he had been able to touch it, to be so close and explore at will. Though he was still shorter than most of those around him, Yugi was growing into a beautiful young man, slim and willowy with the muscles starting to become defined on his slender arms, chest, and stomach. Perhaps in another year or two, he would be the spitting image of the pharaoh. Yami gazed tenderly down at him while he continued simply to touch, taking uncommon joy in Yugi's response. Yugi gazed back through heavy-lidded eyes, cooing softly in pleasure at the feel of those hands on him, exactly as he had asked for. Though he didn't want to disrupt Yugi's obvious bliss, Yami let his hand drift lower and slip into the open jeans, into his briefs, giving him a teasing brush of his fingertips. Yugi's eyes flew wide open with a gasp, leaving him staring up into Yami's sultry face. "Did you like that?" the pharaoh murmured with a smile.

Yugi only laid there stunned for a minute or two, breathing heavily. That warm hand was still resting on his abdomen, just inside his pants, as if waiting for another chance to pounce. When he was able to, he simply whispered, "Please…" and placed his hand on top of Yami's, hoping his signal would be read correctly. Yami brushed a kiss against Yugi's forehead, and then moved his hand deeper, fighting under the clothes for a chance to clasp his lover in his fist. Yugi gave a light cry and twitched his hips, trying to move himself closer to the touch he yearned for. "You…you don't have to move so slowly," he offered, meeting Yami's eyes.

"Patience, Yugi." Yami smiled in amusement and withdrew his hand, clasping Yugi's which still lay upon his chest. "I promise you, we'll get there. There's no need to hurry." Even so, he sat up a little and tugged at the young one's jeans, trying to pull them down. Yugi rushed to help, sliding out of them and kicking them over the side of the bed, making the sheer curtain swish again. His socks immediately followed. Yami placed a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down into the bed, making him relax so he could attend to him. As it was, Yugi laid there panting lightly, desperate to be free of his briefs so Yami could have him once and for all. Yami squeezed his shoulder and drew his hand slowly down Yugi's chest, caressing him in preface to removing his last stitch of clothing. Yugi tilted his hips to aid him, his breath quickening again as he found himself exposed, hard, and wanting with the pharaoh's eyes silently taking him in. Yami did his best not to stare, even though seeing Yugi this way was all new to him. He rested a hand on his young love's knee, caressing slowly inward along his thigh until Yugi trembled with anticipation, his lips barely parted to let every gasp through. But Yami stopped short, and drew back so he could sit up fully. Yugi looked up with a perplexed frown until he saw why; the graceful spirit was undoing his jeans, writhing out of his own clothing so that he would be just as naked as his lover. Yugi clutched a handful of blanket as he watched Yami reveal himself, letting out a low cry as the pharaoh stretched himself out beside him once more, his own arousal plain to see at last. "There," he purred. "Now we're on even ground. I hold nothing back from you, Yugi."

Yugi blinked in wonder at him, unable to keep from looking at Yami's erection. _It's real. He's really…_ He turned slightly toward his companion and cautiously reached to touch him, as if to prove to himself that this wasn't a dream. Yami moaned softly at the touch, closing his eyes. Yugi hesitated. "Is it…all right? Do you want me to do this?" he timidly asked.

Yami's eyes opened slowly. "Yes," he murmured. "Please, Yugi."

Nodding, Yugi rolled onto his side so he could face Yami and touch him, trailing his hand along the taut stomach first before descending to trace the pharaoh's shape with his fingertips. Yami laid quietly beside him, his head pillowed on one arm, eyes half-closed, giving a breathy moan every now and then as Yugi's hand nimbly encircled him and explored, getting more bold as time went on. Yugi held him, stroking lightly, just wanting to feel him for now without deliberately pushing him further. Then, Yami stirred slightly and reached down, closing his own hand on Yugi's erection. "Yami…!" the young one whimpered involuntarily.

"Both of us, together," Yami intoned in his deep, regal voice.

Yugi let out a quiet gasp, briefly going still as he considered the idea. Yami gave him a moment and then began to stroke him gently, encouraging him to reciprocate. After a pause Yugi did, though more hesitantly because his hand was shaking. Yami's firm, steady touch worked well, making him even harder, leaving him panting raggedly, but he forced himself to match his partner's pace, wanting to keep up with him and give to him the same as he was receiving in turn. And it seemed he was, for he watched Yami's eyes fall closed and his own breathing become significantly labored, though he didn't stop his actions for a second. They fell silent but for an occasional moan, stroking each other relentlessly, their bodies continuing to tilt further and further toward each other. Yami even reached his other arm out and slinked it beneath Yugi's head and shoulders, pulling him closer so their chests almost touched, so he was nearly falling on top of his lover. As one they both sped up their actions, driven to higher need by the intimate embrace and the feel of each others' panting breath on their faces. Yugi began to cry in between every gasp, his whole body shaking now and rendering it almost impossible to keep his grip on Yami. Just when he thought he was going to lose control, the pharaoh stopped, his hand falling away, though he remained leaning over Yugi and clutching him to his chest. Yugi struggled to look up at him. "Why…?" he whispered. "Why are you stopping?"

Yami took a moment to regain his breath, blinking down at the boy in his arms. "You were close, yes?"

Yugi groaned long. "Yeah…real close…"

Yami kissed his forehead. "Not that we can't do it more than once, but I wanted your first time with me to be…well, everything and more. I want to hold off until we…" He paused and faintly blushed, unsure how to phrase his intention in a way that sounded remotely romantic.

Fortunately, Yugi understood. "Oh. I get it," he breathed, starting to smile. "Yeah. I like that." His hand had also stilled, but remained on Yami, simply holding him gingerly. He glanced down at it and giggled at the sight, amazed to find himself in this position. Yami's hand moved around his hip and caressed the curve of his ass, giving them both a chance to calm down just enough, though they remained ferociously aroused. After a bit, Yami grasped his young lover by the shoulders and pushed him over onto his back, shifting on top of him. Yugi stared up at him, intimidated, even if the pharaoh's eyes were soft and loving. "What…what are you doing?"

"I only said I was holding off, not waiting," Yami chuckled slyly. He knelt straddling his partner's legs, but only for a moment as he shifted completely to Yugi's other side and reached for the gap in the bedcurtain. Yugi watched him admiringly as he stretched toward the little table beside the bed and retrieved the vial he had set there earlier. Yami sat back and uncapped the vial, dipping his finger inside to verify the nature of the contents. Seeing Yugi's questioning look, he held the vial out just under the boy's nose. "Palm oil."

Yugi gave a cautious sniff. "I don't smell anything."

Yami sighed. "I thought as much. I find there is no sense of smell here in the realm of the mind, unless it's something contained in your memory already. I know the scent of palm oil, but dimly, as if by instinct."

Yugi still fixed him with a perplexed frown. "And what are you going to do with it?"

The pharaoh poured a small amount of oil into his hand and rubbed it between his fingers, raising an eyebrow at his lover. "You…don't know?"

Yugi felt his face grow hot. "Well…I can guess," he said shyly.

Covering the glass vial with his thumb so as not to spill it, Yami reclined with his weight on his elbow and gave Yugi a thoughtful look. "I don't want to hurt you. I have no idea how your body will react here, or if I'm merely being overprotective. But I would rather take the precaution. Besides." He smiled kindly. "The oil won't feel bad. Maybe strange, but only at first."

"I-I trust you." Yugi shifted toward his companion, spreading his legs just a bit in invitation. "Do whatever you have to."

Yami nodded, and bent his head for a long, sweet kiss before proceeding, reaching down between Yugi's legs and rubbing his oil-slicked fingers along the cleft of his ass. Yugi gasped hard at the strange new feeling, grabbing onto Yami's shoulder with one hand to steel himself, although the touch was light and gentle yet and posed him no threat. Yami sidled closer to him and slid his other arm around him, cradling his young love so as to look into his eyes while his hand delicately explored heated flesh and prepared to enter for the first time. Yugi looked uncertain but earnest, his large eyes wide as they focused on Yami's face, soft sighs escaping him now and then as the fingers probing him met a sensitive spot. When he felt the time was right, Yami pressed one oiled finger to the tight opening, paused to make sure there was no protest, and then pushed inside. Yugi recoiled with a gasping cry, his grip on the spirit's shoulder tightening briefly. "Shh," Yami beseeched, bowing his head to nuzzle his partner's warm cheek. "Is this all right? I haven't hurt you, have I?"

Though panting heavily, Yugi managed to shake his head. "It just feels…different," he stammered. "It's okay. I'm okay." He moved his hand to cup Yami's cheek, holding his attention. "Please…keep going, Yami."

Smiling, the spirit nodded and pushed a little further inside, holding on to Yugi as his body arched up into his. Yami retreated and pushed back in, reaching a little deeper this time, while Yugi clutched at his shoulder for stability. When it seemed his body had gotten used to the intrusion, the pharaoh withdrew and repeated his action with two fingers, provoking even more cries of surprised pleasure. It took time and gentle probing to get the young body to relax and permit him entry, but Yami had the patience to keep it up, taking delight himself in simply watching Yugi react. The boy laid in his arms whimpering softly, eyes closed, fingers digging into Yami's bare shoulder every time he pushed too deep. It felt so good, beyond anything he had ever felt before, Yugi thought as he gave up trying to keep his composure and surrendered completely to Yami. "Please," he began to whisper between each stroke of the pharaoh's long, nimble fingers. "Please…please…"

Yami purred in his lover's ear, "What do you want? Just tell me. Don't be afraid."

Yugi wasn't so sure he could, as he was starting to forget how to form words. He clutched at Yami's neck, threading his fingers into the short black hair there. "I…I want you inside me," he finally managed to whisper upon a trembling breath. "You, all of you. I want you to have me…"

He opened his eyes slowly, meeting the eager, burning gaze of the pharaoh holding him. For a moment neither moved as they silently accepted that it should happen, and then Yami stretched to kiss Yugi, firmly and deeply. He removed his fingers and wrestled to a sitting position, letting Yugi lie back for a bit and catch his breath, which he certainly needed. His cheeks were flushed and sweat stood out on his brow, but a hazy smile crossed his lips as he gazed up at Yami pouring another handful of palm oil. "What?" the pharaoh wondered with a small chuckle.

"You're so gorgeous," Yugi mumbled. "I can't believe how lucky I am."

Yami smiled sensuously in return as he set aside the vial of oil and turned toward his lover, carefully balancing the puddle of oil in the palm of his hand. "I like to think I'm the lucky one. To have someone so sweet and pure of heart love me as deeply as you do." Yugi gave him an embarrassed little purr in response. Yami crawled across the bed to position himself between the young one's legs, and only then tilted his hand to let the oil pour over his body, onto his heated erection, in a shameless display of eroticism. Yugi groaned impatiently, wishing he could will his body to sit up and take part in slicking Yami up for entry, but lying there watching was delicious enough. The pharaoh's spirit wore a playful half-smile as he curled his hand around himself and ensured the oil covered every inch of him, and then reached forward with his dripping hand to wipe the rest all over Yugi, his arousal, his cleft, his opening. Yugi's hands clenched into fists as he let his knees fall apart, spreading himself as open as he could to allow the glorious touch to reach every bit of him. Yami prowled forward, then, caressing Yugi's thighs and hips and stomach as he settled down between his lover's legs. Yugi gazed yearningly up at him, able only to nod his approval as breath and heart began to race again. Yami held him around the waist and pulled him closer, up into his lap, so that Yugi's short legs wrapped around his waist and his body fell into position against the desperately waiting erection. Feeling Yami just brushing against his ass made Yugi tighten in apprehension, all his nervousness returning now that the moment had finally arrived. The pharaoh leaned forward, repositioning them both to be more comfortable, and stretched to kiss the center of Yugi's chest. "It's all right. You have to relax, Yugi. I promise you, I will be gentle. If it hurts, I'll stop."

"I can't imagine it hurting," Yugi murmured faintly. "Not here. Please, don't stop. I…I'm ready."

Resting his weight on one hand, Yami cupped the other beneath Yugi's ass to tilt him just-so, bringing him back into position. The boy absently crossed his ankles behind Yami's back to hold himself there, but Yami's knees braced his hips enough to allow him to relax his body a bit. With eyes locked trustingly on each other, Yami moved forward, feeling his way, pushing until he met resistance. Gritting his teeth, he took a deep breath and forced himself to push harder, ignoring his fears of what it might do to Yugi. The resistance gave way, and he fell inside with a groan.

Yugi threw his head back with a loud cry, grabbing hard onto Yami's arms. He could feel him inside, so thick, so hard. He realized then that he was not ready at all, it was nothing like he expected. Yami was only partly inside as it was, taking it slow, but Yugi understood his caution. It was uncomfortable, unusual, but something about it made him only want more. Though his body shook in his lover's arms, he tried to force himself to relax and let Yami further inside. The pharaoh braced himself and gave a little more, sparks of pleasure tingling through him at the feel of being squeezed inside Yugi. A shudder rippled up his back, making him pause even while Yugi held desperately onto him, chest heaving for breath. The long blond locks fell around Yami's face as he bent low for one last push to bring him completely inside, both of them giving a cry at the sensation. Yugi looked weakly up into his partner's face, unable to speak for a short time. Yami gazed back, both hands falling to the bed on either side of Yugi to prop himself up. "Are you all right?" he murmured.

Yugi nodded absently, still breathing too hard to speak.

"Does it hurt?"

The boy shook his head. "Not…much," he managed to reply. "I just…have to get used to it…"

Yami brushed the hair back from his lover's face. "Don't let me continue if it hurts you. You won't hurt my feelings."

"Please…" Yugi's hand grasped Yami's shoulder and squeezed it as he looked up with wide, desperate eyes. "Please don't stop. I want this."

Searching his eyes, Yami could see that he meant it, and nodded. "I want it too," he purred, caressing Yugi's cheek before bracing both hands beside his shoulders. Yugi's hands moved to Yami's wiry upper arms as the pharaoh leaned back and thrust forward slightly, just enough for a start. It made Yugi shout, but not in pain. After a pause Yami did it again, a little harder, feeling his lover's body grip him tightly. Each time it got a little easier, until he was able to fall into a steady rhythm, forward and back, grunting a little under his breath. Yugi's cries trailed off into breathy moans, his eyes half closed as he watched Yami rock into him, watched beads of sweat run down the pharaoh's neck. _So good_, he kept telling himself, _too good to be real. I love him so. I love him_. The pace quickened slightly, and Yugi's eyes widened as he felt something deep inside him, almost a tickle, at the apex of each thrust. Yami noticed the change in his expression and faintly smiled. "Is that good?"

"Yami…" the boy breathed. "Oh…yes…" He swallowed hard, his mouth dry. "What…what are you doing to me…?"

Yami leaned into his thrusts, his fingers curling into fists on the white blanket. "I…love you, Yugi," he stammered in return. "I want you…to be happy…"

Yugi held on for dear life and began to lift his hips up into each forward movement, meeting his lover halfway. The tickle inside him grew to a spark and a flame that wouldn't die. "Yami…ah! I am. I am," he vowed, smiling up at the pharaoh's spirit. Then a particularly deep thrust made him cry out.

Yami's whole body trembled now, demanding release, but he held himself back until he could see the beginnings of climax in his lover. The smile gradually faded from Yugi's lips as he couldn't stop himself from giving a cry at every thrust, his eyes shimmering with emotion, his mouth falling slack. His hands tightened on Yami's arms until his fingers left white imprints in his skin. Yami slumped further down so he could wrap his arms around Yugi's slender shoulders, catching him up into a loose embrace as he continued to rock forward faster. It forced the young one's hips to bend further so as not to lose their coupling, but he was spry and flexible, he could withstand it. Yugi's cries escalated until they echoed in the stone-walled room. He pressed his head back into the pillows, tensing in anticipation of the feeling threatening to wash over him at any minute now. Yami groaned with every breath, his face flushed and his hair swinging past his cheeks in rhythm with his movements. He managed to pick one hand up off the bed and wrap it around Yugi's erection prodding him in the stomach, stroking the underside roughly with his thumb. "Yugi," he groaned softly, "let go. I want…you to come. You can do it. Just let go."

Yugi whimpered in reply, feeling the sparks inside him grow ten times more intense from the renewed touch. "Yami," he moaned, "I'm…I'm close…Yami…"

The pharaoh closed his eyes and pushed harder, his hand giving Yugi a few long strokes in time to his thrust. The whimpering voice beneath him suddenly became a scream, and he looked to see Yugi's body arch violently into his, as he shook and exploded with orgasm. Inside him, Yami was gripped so hard he couldn't hold back anymore, and he came a second later, eyes wide and mouth falling open with a shout. He held himself pressed deeply into Yugi for a few moments, until the waves of pleasure subsided and released their bodies. Yugi slumped back into the bed, his hands falling away on either side of him, and Yami collapsed on top of him. They were both coated in sweat and breathing hard, sticky, hot, but as they cooled down and regained their wits, they forgot all of that and lifted their heads to meet each other's eyes. Yami had to pull out, at which Yugi gave a tiny cry and reached for him. The pharaoh stretched out on the bed and enfolded his arms around his young love, the two of them curling up against each other in the hazy silence.

When at last he felt able to, Yugi tilted his head to give Yami a soft kiss, nibbling at his lips. Yami purred quietly in delight. "Yugi…"

"I love you, Yami," the boy said immediately, needing to say it. "I'm…all yours, now. You've taken all of me that I can give."

Yami hugged him to his chest and kissed his forehead. "It is a precious gift. I won't take it for granted."

Yugi sighed with a hint of a groan. "I just wish I could give you everything. My real body. My…virginity."

Yami nuzzled his ear, giving a slight chuckle. "Consider it lost to me. I don't care if it wasn't your physical body, it means just the same to me."

"It sure felt like it was," Yugi admitted.

Yami ran a fingertip along the youngster's chin, encouraging him to look up at him. "Was it good?" he asked hopefully. "Was it anything like your fantasies of me?"

"That and more," Yugi moaned. "I thought I knew what it would be like, but…it's so much more. It's so powerful. So…" He closed his eyes and giggled a little. "Yeah, it's good."

The pharaoh kept absently tracing his finger along Yugi's cheek, his energy gone. "As are you," he murmured. "You are so sweet and beautiful. I can hardly believe I'm here, in your arms, having shared what we did."

"I know what you mean." Yugi nestled comfortably in his lover's embrace, feeling weak but not sleepy. "It's like a dream, only it's not. I can't explain it, but…I know it's right." He stretched up to kiss Yami once more. "This is right, for us. We did it. We can make it work."

"That's right. We did." Yami gazed seriously into his young partner's eyes. "Is this what you want, then? A relationship, with me?"

Yugi squeezed him. "We already had a relationship. It just lacked that one thing." He glanced shyly away. "If you're willing, then…yes. I want to continue this. I want to be yours, Yami, and yours alone."

Yami sighed quietly and hugged him back. "On one condition. You won't sacrifice your life in order to stay here inside this realm of the Puzzle with me. You must go on with your life as usual."

"Oh, yes. Don't worry! I wouldn't do that," Yugi promised. "You can be my guardian. If I start acting like an idiot, you can just tell me not to come here to see you. I'll be good, really."

Yami chuckled. "You don't have to try so hard, Yugi. I believe you. And I will watch over you, as I always have." He kissed his young love deeply, feeling soft lips yield completely to his control. When he broke away, he added, "We have come so far, you know. There was a time when you hardly knew me, when you even feared me."

Yugi met his gaze with solemn, violet eyes. "I remember," he whispered. "But that was before we got to know each other, and learned to trust each other. Before our bond. Now, I know you would never hurt me or force me to do something I wouldn't. We've always been partners, Yami. Now, we're connected forever."

Yami held him to his chest. "Yes. Forever. I like that."


	8. Part 8- Mindfuck

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, anime, manga, etc. Created for entertainment purposes only.**

Part 8

Mindfuck

Every single student in the class seemed to wear the exact same blank look as they sat staring at the teacher whose lesson plan for today involved droning on in a continuous monotone about the class struggles of feudal Japan. Forced to listen to the driest lecture in school history, one by one the kids had ceased even bothering to take notes, realizing that it was all coming straight from the book that they had already diligently read. As if to insult them further, a deliciously warm sunny afternoon beat in on them through the windows, one of those days where the impossibly perfect blue sky smiled down on a day ripe for running through parks or strolling along the beach in bare feet. Eyes kept shifting subtly toward the windows in envy, depressed sighs punctuating every new paragraph in the teacher's recitation. It seemed like they would never be let out of class, and certainly not before the splendid day had faded to black.

From his seat next to the window, Yugi found it particularly torturous to have to sit there and listen to the lecture when he could see quite well just how lovely and fantastic a day it was outside. The hot sun on his face made him drowsy, at least more drowsy than usual. His notes had faded to a scrawl, his pen had rolled off the desk onto the floor and he was in no mood to go after it. _Why, why, why?_ he asked himself. _Why am I stuck here on a day like today? Boy, what I wouldn't give for a fire drill or a monster attack right about now_. He sighed long, shifting his eyes to follow the drifting flight of a butterfly outside the window.

A voice awoke in his mind, though its soft tone wasn't nearly enough to startle him out of his stupor. "Come now, Yugi. Don't fall asleep, you'll embarrass yourself in front of your classmates."

Yugi snorted under his breath, glancing aside to one student several rows over, just behind Tristan. The boy's head was down on his desk, and he appeared to be drooling in his sleep. "It can't be any worse than that," Yugi responded inside his head to the spirit watching over him. "I've sat through boring classes before but this is crazy."

Yami could observe the world through Yugi, and though he had no material form, his presence lurked alongside his young charge as if he were standing behind him. Yugi appreciated his closeness, imagining him perhaps leaning against the back of his chair or something. "Nevertheless," the pharaoh murmured, "you should pay attention in school."

Another modest snort. "This, from the one who made me skip math once to go to the museum," he mentally retorted. "And as I recall, that didn't turn out very well."

Yami was silent for a moment. Then he faked a cough. "Yes, well," he quickly said, "be that as it may."

Yugi smiled to himself as he resumed watching the teacher, completely oblivious to whatever he was saying at the moment about peasant struggles. "Did you just come to nag me, or do you want something?" he teased the spirit.

His vision of the pharaoh folded his arms and smiled. "I can sense your frustration. It's making me restless also."

"Sorry about that," Yugi sighed internally, while on the outside he only rested his cheek against his fist and looked longingly out the window again. "I forget how much of our thoughts are shared through our bond."

Yami followed his gaze, understanding everything at last. "It is a nice day, isn't it? You'd rather be out there."

"I'd rather be anywhere but here," Yugi grumbled with a quick glance at the teacher.

The voice in his mind lowered with a bit of a purr. "Then you'd prefer it if I distracted you, so you don't have to listen to this?"

Yugi chuckled dryly. "Distract me all you want, I don't think it's going to work."

The vision of Yami turned and placed his hands on Yugi's shoulders, a phantom touch he could almost feel through their spiritual bond. Yami leaned down and murmured softly as if in his young lover's ear. "Even if I shared with you the thoughts I was having, before yours disturbed me?"

Yugi glanced around quickly; none of his classmates twitched a muscle, they certainly hadn't noticed his sudden intake of breath. "Yami!" he scolded, closing his eyes for a moment. "You know what it does to me when you talk like that…"

Another mental purr. "Like what?"

"That! That…voice, the one that just oozes sex." Yugi gritted his teeth, trying to tell himself not to blush. "You know what happens when you use that tone with me."

The pharaoh laughed smoothly. "Of course I do. I know all of your desires, Yugi." The pressure of hands on Yugi's shoulders became subtly stronger. "Ah, if only I could appear before you and whisk you away from this torture."

Yugi's face went slack as he turned all of his mental energy inward to listen and interact with the spirit. "I wish you could. But I guess, having you here with me is better than nothing. Just hearing your voice in my mind puts me in a whole other place."

Yami purred some more. "It's the least I can do, if you can't actually escape reality at the moment. That will have to come later, when you're out of school." His voice lowered even further to a near whisper. "It's what I was thinking about before you woke me. You, coming into the Puzzle to find me, falling into my arms like you always do with your sweet lips already searching for my kiss."

Yugi caught his breath and covered it with a little cough, looking quickly towards the window to keep any of his classmates from seeing his face. "Yami!" he hissed internally.

"I know you're thinking about it too," Yami simply went on. "Finding me there, your body inside and out going hot when you see me, knowing what you're about to get from me. For we share all our thoughts, Yugi. You have no sooner but to want it and I find myself all too happy to oblige you. Or is it me who wants it, and you who comes to me to oblige me? It's all one and the same between us."

Yugi itched a finger between his leather collar and his neck, feeling temporarily like he couldn't breathe with it on. "Do you have any idea what you're doing to me?" he whimpered to the spirit in his mind. "Here? Now?"

"Of course I do." Yami's voice was at its most seductive and dark. "Your schoolmates can't see me, or hear me. You're my captive audience." He hummed under his breath as he thought of something. "Captive…I wonder what that would be like?"

Images flooded Yugi's overactive imagination, and the instant they did, Yami saw them as well. He gasped in mock surprise. "Why, Yugi. I had no idea you really felt that way. I thought the buckled collars and such were simply an attempt to look tougher than you are."

"Yami!" Yugi hid his face in a hand, doing his best to lean against his desk and fake like he was simply bored and letting his attention wander out the window. "Stop that! Someone's going to notice!"

"What, notice you blushing?" The pharaoh chuckled warmly. "I suppose they might. But you're so cute when you blush. Still an innocent after all this time, you still blush when you undress yourself before me. And when I ask you to touch me. Come to think of it, you blush an awful lot."

Yugi closed his eyes, aware that his face burned beneath the cover of his hand. "Is it any wonder, when you talk to me like this?"

"It's not a bad thing," Yami encouraged. "As I said, you're adorable when you blush. And it certainly doesn't stop you. Though you're shy, you still reach out to touch me…" A soft purr, the strange sensation as of breath across Yugi's ear. "…and beg for me to touch you. Yes, the way you beg me. It's so sweet, the submission in your eyes, the desperation in your voice. I can sense your need, and feel it when your hand clasps mine. The slightest brush of my lips across your skin drives you mad."

Yugi realized he was breathing faster and cleared his throat, slumping even further down in his desk to hide his face. "Yami," he fretted in his mind, though this time, it wasn't so much of a protest.

The spirit chuckled again, his presence seeming to wrap around Yugi protectively, lovingly. "It's amazing how much I can please you with just a touch. Sometimes that's all you want, is for me to hold you, or touch your skin, your face…" Warmth crept all through Yugi, traveling slowly down his body beneath his clothes. "…your chest. You like that. My hands lying flat across your chest, feeling their way along your ribs and down your stomach. You could lie there all night and let me touch you, it would be heaven to you. You know I wouldn't stop there, though. I would have to kiss you as well. Every spot you like me to touch, I like to kiss. Your skin is so soft, and I love the way you jump and squeal when you feel my lips against you. All you can do is lie there in my arms, helpless, when I kiss your stomach and down along your hips. You can feel my breath, can't you? Warm on your bare skin?"

"Oh Yami…" Though his face was on fire and his breathing had become shallow, Yugi found himself unable to ask the spirit to stop. He simply fixed his gaze on a rooftop far out beyond the school fence and concentrated on maintaining the mental bond long enough to hear where this was going to go. The teacher was still talking, anyway, pushing his glasses up his nose and flipping a page in the book before droning on about farmers.

The voice in Yugi's mind persisted in its gentle, musing purr. "Your beautiful body, all mine. It's such an intoxicating gift. How I love to see you spread before me, waiting so anxiously for my touch. You give yourself so willingly, I could never refuse you. Your eyes, so soft and liquid, pleading with me to touch you just right, make you hard…"

A drop of sweat ran down Yugi's neck. "Please, Yami…" his mind whimpered.

"That's what I want too, Yugi," Yami continued. "To take you in my hand, and run my fingers up and down, until you're nearly crying with the pleasure. Ah, my love, if only I could taste you. It's the one thing I can't have. But I count myself fortunate just to have you in the first place, so I won't regret it. I will simply take you up in my arms, and kiss every inch of your body, until you beg for more. You can feel me lying against you, can't you? I'm hard, too. Just being with you, having you this way, makes me hard."

Yugi forced himself to swallow, slumped down in his seat trying not to let his classmates see his flushed face. Unfortunately, his body was reacting exactly as both he and his spiritual lover wanted it to. He curled his legs up under himself in his seat and tried to ignore the looks being thrown his way from the girl one row over.

Yami was on a roll now, his presence enveloping his companion in heat and strength, his inner voice hushed to a whisper. "I know what you want, Yugi. I want it too. You want me inside you. It doesn't matter how, there are many ways we can try, but in the end, all that matters is that I'm inside you, completely, making you mine, making you scream. I love the way that feels. Your young body is so tight, so supple and willing. Your grip on my arms is like steel. And when I look into your eyes, all I see is your love, your trust in me. You want me to do this to you. It's me you want, bringing you this pleasure. I can hear your screams, hear you calling my name."

"Yugi Muto?" No, it wasn't the same. It was the teacher, trying to get his attention. Yugi looked up sharply to find the whole class staring at him. Though he could still feel Yami's presence, his heart was starting to sink into his shoes. "Are you all right?" the teacher asked him.

"Uh…what?" Yugi stammered, pulling his jacket more tightly around him to hide himself and the Puzzle. His face was flushed and hot, sweat standing on his forehead, his breath coming quickly.

"You don't look so good," the teacher noted. "Are you coming down with something? Maybe you should go visit the school nurse."

Yugi licked his lips and tried to swallow, faintly relieved that everyone thought him looking ill instead of…something else. "Yeah, yeah, maybe you're right," he agreed. "I-I don't feel so good."

He quickly swept his notes into his backpack and gathered himself to stand, awkwardly teetering between the desks to try to get out of the room without anyone noticing precisely why it was hard for him to walk. He shot Joey a quick look, glad to see worry and sympathy in the brown eyes watching him cross the classroom. Keeping his uniform jacket closed, Yugi nodded his thanks to the teacher and sidled out the door, taking a moment to slouch against the wall and catch his breath. _That was close_, he warned himself. _Too close_.

"I'm sorry, Yugi," Yami said within his mind. "I didn't realize we were…"

"No, it's okay," Yugi quickly assured him. "But you can't leave me like this. We have to do something."

"But…what?"

Slinging his backpack over a shoulder, Yugi stumbled off down the hallway, heading for the nearest boys' restroom. Thankfully, during class periods it tended to be empty, so he locked the door behind him and reeled into a wall, sliding down to a seat on the floor. Alone like this, it was easy for him to focus on Yami, to allow the pharaoh's spirit to materialize before him as a vision. Yami crouched down in front of him, unable to touch him but reaching out as if to do so anyway, out of habit. "Please," Yugi begged him under his breath. "Go on. Finish what you started."

Kneeling in front of him, Yami gave him a perplexed look, but then noticed his lover had undone his pants to free himself. Smiling slightly, the spirit nodded. "Anything for you, Yugi. If only I could touch you myself."

"I'll make do," Yugi sighed in exasperation. The ghostly vision rested a hand on top of his, encouraging him to begin stroking himself lightly, though he kept his eyes locked on Yami's face. "I believe you were getting me to scream your name…"

"It isn't difficult." Yami leaned in close, enraptured by the hazy look in the violet eyes turned up toward him. "When you're so close, like that, you lose all control. All you can do is cry out to me, clinging to me in desperation. I can feel your body surrender to me, I feel you tremble in my arms. That's when I know you're close. It's so good, Yugi. You're hot, tense, your fingers dig into my arms. It makes me lose control as well." The spirit stretched out to whisper in Yugi's ear. "I just want you _now_, I want to fill you completely and drown in you. I have to go faster, because I can't stop."

Beneath him, Yugi's hand had also gone faster, though it was simply a rote exercise now. All his attention was firmly on the ghosted image hovering over him. "Don't stop," he moaned. "Yami…"

Yami rested his hands on the wall behind Yugi's head, covering him completely. "You have to come, Yugi," he murmured. "Let yourself go. I need you. I need you to come."

Yugi caught the cry that nearly leaped out of him and swallowed it, closing his eyes as his body began to shake and then erupt with orgasm. Yami remained huddled over him, watching him in fascination, wishing he had the ability to wrap his arms around the boy and share in this moment but content to simply feel the echoing waves of ecstasy in their bonded minds. Yes, he could certainly feel that. Yugi laid against the wall for a few minutes until he could catch his breath, his face still flushed red in embarrassment at what he had been reduced to doing. Only Yami's delightful expression kept him from being completely ashamed as he picked himself up and went to the sink to wash. After a few silent minutes, Yugi shook his head and spoke his thoughts aloud. "I can't believe you did that!"

Yami cocked his head curiously. "Are you angry with me?"

"N-no, I'm…" Yugi flinched. "I'm just really embarrassed. I've never done anything like that before. And in school, too! You're so lucky the teacher thought I was getting sick!"

"You do seem to be coming down with a fever." Yami smirked at the annoyed scowl he received for his comment. "Perhaps you should take your teacher's advice and go see the nurse. Or maybe some fresh air will do you good."

Yugi's mouth fell open in astonishment. When he could collect his wits, he yelped, "Are you trying to get me to skip class again? And this isn't even about saving the world!"

Yami turned his back to his young lover, still smirking. "I told you, Yugi. I may be a pharaoh, but that doesn't mean I'm a good person every minute of every day. Some things are just more important than the class warfare of feudal Japan."

Yugi finished up and brushed down his jacket, making sure there was no evidence left of his momentary lapse of reason. "Fine," he said with a hint of a smile. "I'll go see the nurse. I do feel like I'm coming down with something. Some kind of Egyptian flu, maybe."

The pharaoh's spirit laughed as he faded from view. "I know just the cure for that."


	9. AN: Challenge!

**Hello there Readers!**

**I hereby have a challenge you all!**

**Could someone, anyone, write a better summary for this story, because, frankly, mine ****_Sucks!_**

**I would really appreciate it, and I will take the best summary and will post as the new description of my story. I have issued this challenge to all of my stories: the Yagi Tachi and its sequels.**

**Thanks for the help! :)**

**Locondra**


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